Crain: Reed's playmaking ability should scare defensive coaches in 2025

Jake Crain of Crain & Company joined Tuesday's edition of TexAgs Live to share his thoughts on starting quarterbacks in the SEC this upcoming season. Crain evaluated A&M's Marcel Reed, South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Texas' Arch Manning and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier.

Key notes from Jake Crain interview

• I got a lot of respect for Mel Kiper Jr. He was one of the first guys to get the NFL Draft talk going, but I can respect you and still think you're out of your mind. To say the NFL has been clueless for 50 years, to say that it's like Richard Simmons saying someone has too much energy. We can agree that the NFL misses sometimes, but everybody misses, Kiper misses. I miss. You miss. To come out and crash out that way for Shedeur Sanders? He said he would go early, and he didn’t. I know a scorned person when I see one. If I want to watch clowns, then I'll go to the circus.
   
• It's like dating in the real world. You can get away with having a bad to no personality if you're really good-looking, but you can't just be OK looking and have an awful personality. How many times in the NFL have we seen guys get drafted just because they are so talented that they think they can overcome the off-the-field issues?
   
• If Sanders was this unbelievable can't-miss prospect, somebody would've drafted him earlier and said, “Our culture can fix it.” I don't think he's a bad guy or person, but when you go about things the way he went about them, you better be so good on the field that people can look past it. People don't realize that more than A&M fans do with Johnny Manziel. Look where he went based on talent alone, and we know he won't exactly be raising money for charity every day.
   
• I'm all for a good prank, but there's a time and a place for things. You don't ding-dong door-ditch a house with two infants. Not that door ditching isn't fun... I love a senior prank. We put a fish on the roof of the classroom, but these guys have been working their whole lives and are so on edge, especially being a coach's son. Malaki Starks was talking about being homeless twice growing up, waiting for this opportunity. I just am all for fun, but I don't think there should be repercussions. I think it's poor form in this time and place. 
   
• LaNorris Sellers at South Carolina is a stud. He and Marcel Reed, I think, you can get similar things, they just go about it the different ways. The difference in Sellers, to me, and some of these other guys is that they aren't just runners who happen to be good at throwing. They are natural passers.
   
• You've got to be able to throw the lollipop screen and layer it between intermediate defenders, but I think what separates Sellers is that his chance to be elite is much higher because he has natural ability. He can turn a bad play into a good play. You have to run it with rhythm. The game will do nothing but continue to slow down for them. What makes football the greatest sport of all time is that it’s not about one guy. It’s about what's around him. It will depend on this guy, like Sellers, Reed, and Arch Manning, for how far their teams go.
   
• I think the way Manning's family has handled his recruitment and development is perfect. It's going away in today's society. Buying your time, understanding the importance of the redshirt, developing and not wanting to leave. It's like a trailer for a movie. The bits I see are good, but until I watch the full movie, the parts I like or don't like, I can't sit here and say he's the No. 1 quarterback in the SEC.
   
• Manning has not shown me what Sellers has shown me, and it's not his fault. He had a good spring, but that's like having a good conversation with a girl on the phone. You haven't taken her out to eat yet. I won't sit here and crown him before I see him through the struggles. Young quarterbacks, no matter who's around them, will go through the ups and downs. The question is, how down are the downs and how up are the ups? Same thing with Julian Sayin at Ohio State. I don't think enough people are talking about him, and Texas and Ohio State will play each other in the first game. There will be slumps, and that's why I don’t think Texas makes the playoffs this year.
   
• I'm more worried about whether LSU is going to tackle anybody. The thing with Garrett Nussmeier is we know he's talented. He's not a big guy. He has to operate at a high IQ,  but I think he gets too cute sometimes and tries to do too much. I feel like you see that with the coach’s son sometimes. They overanticipate. However, there is a lot of hope if he stays healthy. He will likely remain a quality player. He needs to stop putting the ball in harm's way, down the field or on the backside. Just throw the ball away. If he does that, he has a chance to be more efficient this year. He put them in a lot of bad situations. He's a returning dynamite player in the league, and there's not a lot returning to the SEC.
   
• If we sit here and I play the game, as a former defensive coach, of who scares me the most? I think Reed is right up there, just like Sellers scares me. There's nothing more debilitating than to stunt them on first down. Lock them up on 2nd-and-9. Lock them up on 3rd-and-7, and Reed makes a guy miss. The defensive coordinator may have called a great blitz. They may have gotten pressure off the edge, but Reed made the guy miss, runs for eight and extends the drive.
   
• What I want Reed to make sure of is not to do what Jalen Milroe did. You don’t have to be some brilliant pocket passer all the time. If you read it's man and their backs are turned, and you can take off? You can hit home runs from 70 yards out. Don't be something you're not. Know when to say when and protect yourself when you do take off. There's not a whole lot of great answers for him. He's just got to stay true to himself.