On Monday, No. 10 Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko took questions from the local media just two days after the Aggies’ memorable 38-23 comeback win over the LSU Tigers after trailing 17-7 at the half.
Behind the legs of quarterback Marcel Reed, who entered the game in the third quarter due to starting QB Conner Weigman’s poor play, scored three rushing touchdowns while leading the offense to five consecutive scoring drives in one of the season’s most dominant showings.
While many believe Reed, who remains 3-0 as A&M’s starter this season, has regained the starting job, Elko noted that nothing is set in stone, and this week’s practice will determine who starts against South Carolina on Saturday night:
“We just want to see how this week plays out and what we think gives us the best shot to go into this challenge and be successful.”
Regarding Marcel Reed’s dual-threat ability and success with the QB option, Elko stated that there are always plays available in the playbook to get him on the field, similar to his insertion against LSU:
“We have to have a plan for Marcel (Reed) ready at all times because you never know how, injury-wise, the game is going to go.”
“It’s a credit to Collin (Klein) that he’s able to do that in a way that doesn’t create a volume for our offensive players. … It’s not like we’re running two separate offenses because we have enough wrinkles in our system that we can tailor it to specific quarterbacks.”
Conner Weigman’s 6/18 day in the pocket was one of his worst career outings. Still, as we saw in Texas A&M’s season-opening loss, the redshirt sophomore has shown the ability to rebound after every bad performance, and Elko trusts his QB will right the ship this week. However, this is a two-way street concerning the wide receiver rotation finding consistent separation in their routes.
“He still has a ton of growth, repetition that he needs to gather to be able to consistently go through the progressions at the pace and speed that you need to.”
“Sometimes our wideouts are a little too slow getting to where they need to be, and sometimes Conner is a little too fast going through his progressions.”
If the Aggies want to reach the season finale vs. Texas with an undefeated conference record, the passing game, with either Weigman or Reed, will need to improve and find life early in games before the running game can find its footing.
“We’re looking for some consistency in the throw game, and it feels like we’re still working through some of the timing elements of it.”
“We have to get our passing game working in a rhythm in a way it can be productive and efficient for us to get down the road where we want to.”
Texas A&M will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on either ABC or ESPN+.
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