Marcel Reed attributes his calm demeanor to his competitiveness

Key notes from Marcel Reed interview

• We got home at 3 a.m. on Saturday night.
   
• I think the bye week is at a good time. Any time you have a bye week after a hard-fought game, it's a good time. Going into SEC play, I think this is the perfect time to have the first bye.
   
• I am feeling better. That was a game that I had to kind of thug it out a little bit. Thankfully, I did. This bye week is at a good time. We have time to rest up and get treated. It wasn't anything too bad. It was taking a couple of blows in the same spot. We're back.
   
• From what we have now, we expected this. We have been practicing really hard the whole offseason, knowing this is going to be the game we want back in Week 3. We got a man coverage team. They split it up a little bit. They played a little bit of Cover 3, too. Whenever they got in man coverage, we took advantage of it. We have the guys to do it. Put the ball in their hands, and let them go play. It's not magic that we put up 40. We worked for this. Really excited that everyone got to see what we already knew. There's a lot more coming.
   
• When it comes to preseason talk, I am just a college kid hanging out with my friends and playing football. I made a post on Instagram prior to the season, and it was a picture of me in my little league uniform. The caption was, "Same game you've been playing since you were five." That's what I think every time I play a game. I know what I am doing because I am coached well. I trust in my training. I don’t think of anything outside of me. None of those things matters. It's just 11 guys on the field. We're just out there having fun at the end of the day.
   
• In high school, I had a game-winning shovel pass to Zak Herbstreit, Kirk Herbstreit's son. It was a forward pass. That was one of the game-winners I have had before, but nothing like this on a big stage.
   
• On the game-winner, that was not where I was going, initially. If you see the play, I pump once. I wanted to throw the ball to KC Concepcion. There were about four or five guys around him. Nate Boerkircher had one. I pumped and got my eyes outside quick. It was either that or run. I thought giving Boerkircher a chance was the best option. He went up there, grabbed the ball and scored for us.
   
• When I threw it, I didn’t know if it was going to be a good enough ball. I saw him slip inside of the defender and was like, “Oh, he's got this.”
   
• Boerkircher said he couldn't see it. He said he got stuck in the lights. The ball happened to hit his hands. Thank God.
   
• It speaks volumes to the competitiveness we have at practice. Everyone on and off the field can play. Everybody will be ready when their name is called. Daymion Sanford came in for Scooby Williams. He did a tremendous job. Koli Faaiu and Mark Nabou Jr. switched roles a couple of times. They can protect real well. Amari Daniels did a lot for us last year. He is a productive back. We have a lot of depth at all positions. That's what makes the team so good, is when you can trust the guy after, after and after to come in and do the same job as the guy who was already in.
   
• It's just me being competitive. Going back to when I was a kid again, you do the countdown in your head when you are shooting the last shot or the countdown throwing the last pass, you are going out there and having fun. There is no pressure when you know what you are doing. We have practiced that multiple times. We have executed it multiple times. It’s nothing new to us.
   
• You have a guy in Mario Craver who is that fast and quick. It’s hard to get him down. A lot of the passes I throw to him aren't that long. He just turns them into 30-40 yard gains. I was surprised on that first pass, I threw to him, he spun out, and I was like, “There's no way that happened.”
   
• I was jogging. I was like, “Craver’s probably about to go out of bounds.” He stayed in, and I sprinted my ass off to the end zone. His balance is incredible.
   
• My first impression was that I knew Concepcion was going to be a dawg. I knew what we were getting when we got him out of the portal. He’s proven me right ever since he’s been here. He's been that guy for us. We draw plays up for him to try to get him the ball. He can do some crazy things. He can get up, too.
   
• I tried to throw that one high to Concepcion. I put too much pace on the ball, which didn't come down like I thought it would. He saved me there.
   
• The wide receivers make my life a lot easier. Concepcion says all the time, “Put it anywhere.” He's lived up to that. I can trust in the team that if the ball is anywhere around them, they will make the play and move the chains.
   
• There is plenty of season left. With the production that Craver and Concepcion have made, defenses are going to try and shut them down. What they don't realize is that we have other weapons aside from them.
   
• Terry Bussey and Ashton Bethel-Roman are sleepers. Coming into the season, I would have thought Bethel-Roman would get the ball more. He opens it up for everyone else. Bussey is old reliable. Going back and watching film, he is also in a spot where he can get the ball. Bussey will have a big game and Bethel-Roman, too.
   
• With Le'Veon Moss, we make jokes when we are playing NCAA and using A&M and say, “He has two kids. He is hungry. He is playing for something else.” I wouldn't be on the other side trying to tackle #8.
   
• Drayk Bowen’s hit on me, I didn't think it would be that square. Christian Gray got my legs. Bowen came and hit me. I didn't see him until the last second. That guy flew to me. He put me on my back a little bit.
   
• If it's on the schedule, we have to play it. If we had a game this week, we would be perfectly fine. I don’t think the bye week will stop us. Notre Dame is a really good team, just not in the conference. It builds momentum. Momentum will not be taken away just because of a bye week.
   
• We have been preparing for this one. Mike Elko said it. There has been so much disrespect put on our name. We weren't going to take it anymore. We owed them a game. Last year wasn't what we wanted. What a better place to do it than on their home field.
   
• We get better by being more disciplined. There is consistency with the number of penalties we had. Some route busts or me not making the right read. There are a lot of things on film that, easily, could get us up to 60 points in that game. We left a lot on the table. We put up that many, but there is so much left we could have given on that Saturday.
   
• Coach Collin Klein and I had a whole offseason together. That relationship is so good to have. We have built it as time has gone by. Even week-to-week, I will sit in his office and go through third downs or the red zone. We talk about what I think should be on the call card. It's cool. I can have a say in what I want to put out on the field.
   
• This weekend, I will watch Baylor and Arizona State. I had a chance to meet both of those quarterbacks at the Manning Passing Academy. I’ll watch Oklahoma vs. Auburn. John Mateer is doing good right now, and Jackson Arnold is making a name for himself. Ole Miss plays Tulane. There will be some good quarterbacks to watch.
   
• Vanderbilt football is a wild thing to watch. It's good to see, for me. We don’t play them. Knowing Clark Lea, he went to my high school. Seeing how much fun they are having is pretty cool.
   
• Rueben Owens II and I watched Conner Weigman put a dead-leg on somebody and get in the end zone. He’s been playing well. That is fun to see. Haynes King, every time you see him run the ball, he gets up slow, but he keeps going. That's really special to watch. They just upset Clemson. It's crazy to see all these A&M quarterbacks at different schools, leading their teams to success.