Mike Elko offers key injury update on Marcel Reed and Texas A&M’s offensive dominance following annihilation of Utah State
Marcel Reed and Texas A&M offense wrecked Utah State, but Mike Elko sees room to grow
Marcel Reed and the Texas A&M Aggies took care of business against Utah State on Saturday, winning 44-22 in a lopsided game. It wasn’t perfect — especially according to head coach Mike Elko — and a few key players got dinged up with minor injuries, but the Aggies began the 2025 college football season 2-0, easily.
Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed was unfortunately one of the players who suffered what seems to be a minor injury in the game, but the good news is that he should be “fine” to play against Notre Dame next week. Will he be fine enough to actually beat Notre Dame? That remains to be seen, but the Aggies showed plenty of promise once again on Saturday.
Marcel Reed is expected back against Notre Dame despite his injury against Utah State
Reed was off to another hot start against Utah State, racking up 220 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 66 rushing yards, and another rushing touchdown. This was his second consecutive week with around 300 yards or more and four touchdowns, which was great to see. Reed was once again silencing the doubters when it came to his passing abilities, but then his impressive performance got cut short as he was injured on a scramble late in the third quarter.
Reed’s star wide receiver, KC Concepcion, seemed to get the signal before the game was even over that Reed would be OK, but it was nice to hear it straight from Elko that his developing quarterback is indeed expected to be fine for next week against Notre Dame:
“From an injury standpoint–so you guys don’t have to ask — [we] anticipate Trey [Zuhn] and Marcel [Reed] being fine,” Elko said. “Trey could have come back. We chose not to just because of the way the game was being played. We fully anticipate Marcel will be fine for next week [against Notre Dame].”
Elko would not divulge any further information when asked about the injury, but a more detailed update should be expected as the week goes on.
Reed and Texas A&M offense look in good shape to take on Notre Dame
The Texas A&M offense finished the day on Saturday, averaging over 7 yards per play, despite Reed’s early exit. Five playmakers caught multiple receptions. Three wide receivers scored touchdowns. Five runners averaged at least 5.7 yards per carry. The offense was clicking on all cylinders against Utah State.
And just like many still wanted to see, Reed did finally start to connect on some deeper passes, like his touchdown to Terry Bussey:
According to Elko, the offense was still a bit choppy in a few places, but it seems like he was mostly pleased with his team’s performance:
“It was a little bit choppy in the vertical passing game,” Elko said. “It was nice to see [Reed] connect on the one to Mario [Craver] in the second half…He did a really good job in the RPO game. I thought they gave us a lot of open-access things, and he took it. Then in the second half, the first drive of the third quarter wasn’t up to standard, but after that I thought he looked like he was getting into a much better rhythm before he came [out of the game] at the end.”
Reed clearly has a strong relationship with wide receivers Concepcion, Craver, and Bussey already, despite two of those three wide receivers being transfers. He needs to make sure he takes care of himself on running plays so Texas A&M doesn’t get its QB knocked out of more important games (like next week against Notre Dame) and improve on his deep passing consistency. Still, Reed is looking like a real difference maker early on in 2025. Let’s just hope he stays healthy and avoids serious injury.
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