'Gingerbread Man' Marcel Reed is not focused on any Heisman hype

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“Run, run as fast as you can!
You can’t catch me.
I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

The 1875 fairytale “The Gingerbread Man” obviously made an impression on a young Marcel Reed.

In the story, the Gingerbread Man springs to life and runs away after being removed from the oven.

A farmer and his wife give chase. So do farm workers and farm animals. It’s all to no avail. The Gingerbread Man is too fast, too shifty and too elusive to be caught.

Coincidentally, as Texas A&M’s quarterback Marcel Reed has been chased by the Irish, Gators, Razorbacks, Bulldogs and Tigers.

But he has often been too fast, too shifty and too elusive to be caught.

Reed is the Gingerbread Man. He has been since elementary school in Nashville.

It was in the fifth grade when Reed, realizing he’s fast, shifty and elusive, started calling himself “The Gingerbread Man,” among other things.

Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

As Texas A&M’s offensive leader, Marcel Reed has accounted for 2,571 yards of total offense through nine games this season to rank 20th nationally.

“I used to call myself the dragonfly at one point,” Reed said on Tuesday. “I don’t know if you guys ever tried to hit a dragonfly. That’s pretty hard to do. I’ve never touched one.”

Dragonfly disappeared like dragonflies often do. Gingerbread Man stuck. It still sticks.

“I heard him tell his mom that when we were talking at the family hotel on Friday (before facing Missouri on Saturday),” A&M linebacker Taurean York said. “He told his mom he was the Gingerbread Man.

“You can’t catch him.”

That was evident when Reed was a high school star at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.

“In high school, I made a cut on two people and made three people tackle each other in the game,” Reed recalled. “That was in the state championship game. Unfortunately, we lost, but just going back and looking at that highlight, it was pretty cool to see.”

Actually, it was a common sight.

“There was a bunch of those (plays) in high school,” said Marcel’s father, Rod Reed. “It was like a video game out there.

“He always knew shift change direction real quick.”

Everybody in the Southeastern Conference knows it now.

Marcel was too fast for LSU defenders to catch him on a 41-yard touchdown run. He was also too fast for Arkansas on a 46-yard run, which set up a 17-yard touchdown pass he threw to KC Concepcion.

He was too shifty for LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr., who Marcel dodged at the goal line on another touchdown run.

He was too elusive for Notre Dame when he avoided a rush to throw a last-second, fourth-down touchdown pass to Nate Boerkircher to defeat the Irish.

Plays like that are called “Heisman moments.” Marcel has had so many that he’s among the leading contenders for the Heisman Trophy.

He has passed for 2,193 yards and 19 touchdowns. He has rushed for 378 yards. He has led the Aggies to nine consecutive victories, and he has done it with a flair that most of the other candidates haven’t shown.

“Marcel has turned around this program, for sure,” York said. “He’s the leader in the forefront of it. He’s playing his best at the biggest moment. That’s something you can’t measure.

“We’re undefeated. We’re No. 3 in the country. I mean, he’s doing all the right things to win the Heisman. So, my vote goes to Marcel, for sure.”

Unfortunately, York doesn’t have a vote, but there’s no doubt Marcel is getting the attention of voters.

Yet, Marcel isn’t viewing A&M’s game vs. South Carolina on Saturday at Kyle Field as a chance to boost his Heisman campaign.

He said he’s only focused on boosting the Aggies’ record and chances to win a championship.

“I definitely embrace (the Heisman attention) a little bit because it’s great to get recognition like that,” Marcel said. “But I kind of have to push it aside. None of that matters until it matters, so until the Heisman ceremony comes, it’s not really on my mind.

“I’m focused on winning one game each week. Right now, we’ve got South Carolina coming up, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

That almost sounds like coach-speak. Well, in fact, it is.

Marcel is repeating the advice he has received from Rod, who was formerly the head football coach at Tennessee State University.

“Marcel is a little different,” Rod said. “It (Heisman talk) doesn’t faze him a lot. I tell him that talk don’t matter until the end of November. It sounds good to be in the conversation, but it doesn’t really matter if you don’t finish. That’s the way we navigate it.

“Just stay in the moment. Worry about the next game.”

Of course, the next game could bring more Heisman moments.

Marcel remembers seeing Auburn’s Cam Newton weaving through the LSU defense on a 49-yard touchdown run to highlight his 2010 Heisman campaign.

He also remembers Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel catching his own fumble and delivering a touchdown pass against Alabama during his 2012 Heisman run.

“You know, I don’t even think the little fumble pass was Johnny’s best play,” Marcel said. “I think the (37-yard touchdown) run he had against Mississippi State at Mississippi State was pretty fire.”

This A&M football season has been an inferno.

A few more spectacular plays from Marcel could result in a championship for A&M and a Heisman Trophy for The Gingerbread Man.