Experienced Marcel Reed 'confident' as offseason comes to a close

Key notes from Marcel Reed interview

• I’m ready for fall camp. I want to start immediately, but I’m going to take a little break before to go home. I’ll see my friends and family. It’s a quick reset before we jump into it, but I’m so excited for fall camp. We’re only a month or so away from kickoff, and that’s exciting.
   
• After July 4, you get to the back half of the summer workouts where you realize you’re two or three weeks away from fall camp. Time flies, and the season is closer than you think.
   
• From a weight room standpoint, Daymion Sanford has been killing it. So have Mario Craver and Anto Saka, who is a bodybuilder almost. You should’ve seen the squat maxes for the offensive linemen. Angelo McCullom did some outrageous numbers on squat the other day. It was freaky. I call him Andre the Giant.
   
• With Mike Elko, we talk situations and stuff. When you catch picks as McCullom did in the Maroon & White Game, you’re supposed to go down because that’s the end of the game. This dude just ran, and he didn’t even make it to the end zone. He’s still learning, but if anybody else who had been with Elko had done that, it would not have been good.
   
• At tight end, we’ve got Micah Riley, Richie Anderson and Houston Thomas. They’ve all looked good since they got in. Anderson has leaned up, but he can run routes and block. He’s crisp. Riley earned the captain tag, and he looks great on the field. You know he’s going to get down and dirty on the line of scrimmage. Thomas had a great year at UTSA, and he’s a weapon for us. We have freshmen in KK Johnson and Evan Jacobson, and they’re understanding the offense. Their time is coming, and it’s going to be scary. I can’t leave out the walk-ons in Carter Braugh and Luke Braden. When you get scout team looks, they’re going to give you the best look. Braugh might have the best hands on the entire team. I’ve seen him make one-handed catches, and his hands are huge.
   
• At the Manning Passing Academy, I roomed with Trinidad Chambliss, Gunner Stockton and Kamario Taylor. There are great quarterbacks everywhere in the SEC right now. Chambliss and Stockton have played in significant games. Taylor is stepping into that role, but he showed what he can do at the end of the year. John Mateer is at Oklahoma. LaNorris Sellers is back. Kenny Minchey came from Notre Dame, and he’s at Kentucky now. Sam Leavitt is going to be really good. Tennessee has a battle going on. Whether the quarterback is younger or older, they can all play. Auburn has Bryum Brown. They can all play.
   
• You're going to see a more mature No. 10. This game is all about experience and growing. Whether people realize it or not, last year was truly my first year starting. I had played in games before that, but being in for 13 games is a hard thing to do. Playing and starting 13 games is not easy. Everyone in the football world understands that and knows what it does for your body, whether you’re a quarterback, O-lineman or receiver. This year, I’m learning from mistakes from last year, and there’s room to grow. Things didn’t go how we wanted at the end of the year. I’m staying confident in myself because I know what I’m capable of, and my coaches know what I’m capable of. That’s why they still have me in the position that I’m in.
   
• I’m close to the top in terms of starts in the SEC. I’m top three, at least. Stockton and I might be the top two in the league.
   
• Personally, your mindset should be the same for every game. It shouldn’t be different if you’re going somewhere else. Environments change, and we know that our crowd won’t be as loud as somewhere else when the offense is on the field. I’ve always thought away games are fun. I’ve always loved it since high school. It’s fun to get the job done on somebody else’s field, and I’ve always loved wearing white jerseys.
   
• I wouldn’t say I’d be more fired up to play at Tennessee than to play them here, but it would be cool because I’ve got a lot of friends who go to Tennessee. I know a lot of people who would travel from Nashville to Knoxville, too. Their visitors' locker room is really small. That’s a crazy stadium.
   
• It’s fun throwing the ball to Isaiah Horton. It’s like throwing the ball to a really fast, athletic linebacker.
   
• At receiver, we don’t talk about Terry Bussey too much, and we don’t talk about Ashton Bethel-Roman enough. ABR had like five touchdowns for like 300 or 400 yards. He can get behind the defense easily, and Bussey can do the same. He’s elusive with the ball. We have a lot of big-time weapons with different skill sets and different ways we can use them. These guys can all do some different things. Those two on offense are going to be pretty good.
   
• Bethel-Roman set the tone against Missouri, and he had some big-time moments against Arkansas. Then, of course, he had that play against South Carolina.
   
• I definitely feel comfortable, and I get opportunities to sit down with Holmon Wiggins and Joey Lynch a lot. The offense is going to be what I’m comfortable with, and I’m comfortable with a lot of things. I’m excited to play and show the world what Wiggins can do as an offensive coordinator.