Elko, Wiggins express confidence in Reed's improved ball security

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Asked what was learned from a Texas A&M football scrimmage last weekend, offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins listed some issues from last season.

“We’ve got to be consistent,” Wiggins said to a group of reporters on Tuesday. “The biggest focus that we’ve had is turnovers, penalties and being able to run the ball consistently.”

Those were three occasional problems a year ago, especially turnovers. A&M was 15th in the Southeastern Conference with a minus-nine turnover margin.

Only lowly Arkansas was worse.

A dozen of those turnovers were interceptions thrown by quarterback Marcel Reed. From all reports, Reed’s ball protection has significantly improved throughout August camp.

Yet, coach Mike Elko maintained Reed’s ball protection wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

“He took care of the football better last year than anyone’s giving him credit for,” Elko said. “A lot of his picks last year that took the number to where it went were at the end of games. Pressing, trying to catch up. I think there’s times where, in those situations, you’re going to put the ball at risk more naturally.

“For a large part of the season last year I thought he protected the ball really well and even down the stretch. Outside of South Carolina, a lot of that was pressing-type situations.”

Oh yeah, South Carolina. Reed threw two interceptions in the first half of that game. Those picks helped enable the Gamecocks to take a 30-3 halftime lead.

Of course, Reed threw three touchdown passes in the second half and rallied the Aggies to a historic 31-30 victory.

But to Elko’s point, two interceptions against Texas were in the final three-and-a-half minutes when the Aggies were trying to come back from a 10-point deficit.

Another was in the final minute of a 10-3 loss to Miami in the College Football Playoff.

Until the South Carolina game, Reed had thrown six interceptions in nine games. That’s too many, but not a disastrous amount.

One interception was against Notre Dame when Reed correctly read man-to-man coverage. However, the defensive “man” was Leonard Moore, who is generally regarded as the best cornerback in the country.

The next week, Reed threw another interception in a 16-10 victory over Auburn. That’s hard to blame on him because the play’s timing was disputed by a high snap. The pass ricocheted off a receiver’s hands.

Still, even if that play, the three late-game picks and a good play by Notre Dame’s Moore were subtracted, Reed still had too many interceptions.

He’s expressed confidence that he’s made improvement. Earlier, he’d pointed out he hadn’t had an interception in camp.

Danny Grant, TexAgs

After 12 picks in 2025, Marcel Reed told reporters last Wednesday that he had yet to turn the ball over during camp.

Elko and Wiggins confirmed that Reed has made progress.

“I think he’s taken the step we hoped he would take,” Elko said. “He’s much more comfortable, much more confident. He knows the reads, knows what the progressions need to look like. His footwork looks cleaner, ball delivery looks cleaner. I’m excited for him.”

Wiggins credited Reed for working diligently with quarterbacks coach Joey Lynch.

“(Reed is) putting the time in,” Wiggins said. “The confidence and comfort for him comes with time on task, but also going in there and meet with coach Lynch and actually seeing and knowing exactly, ‘Here’s what I’m doing, how I’m supposed to do it and why.’

“So, the great thing is when I get a chance to talk to him on the sidelines, he comes off, and he knows why this broke down, why he didn’t do something. That probably hadn’t been the case a year ago.”

If Reed reduces those turnovers, the running game consistently produces and the penalties are minimized, Wiggins believes the offense’s potential is unlimited.

“The sky is the limit when you’re talking about what this offense can do if we continue to clean those things up,” he said.