Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed Explains Decision to Flip Commitment From Ole Miss

In this story:
Marcel Reed was on the path to greatness on his way out of high school, and was committed to play football at Ole Miss under head coach Lane Kiffin in his junior year. Reed was an all-around athlete, playing football and basketball at a high level in his high school years, just waiting for his opportunity to make it to the big leagues.
Having only good things to say about the school in a recent interview with "The Turf", Ole Miss stood out to Reed as an incredible atmosphere for college football, saying, "I really loved the place. It was cool, and there were a bunch of people I knew that already had gone there, had some great players come out of there," Reed continued the high praise with, "it wasn't too far from home, loved the environment of what college football looked like in Oxford."
Unfortunately, the circumstances of former head coach Lane Kiffin's next steps were too up in the air for Reed. Not knowing where the head coach of your future landing spot will take a job next is a big deal, and what started as a great match for the program ended up with Reed decommitting and eventually committing to Texas A&M.
"We Weren't Getting The Answers That We Really Wanted"

Reed reflects on the situation, claiming that there were serious rumors about Kiffin taking a job at Auburn, and leaving Reed, as well as the entire Rebel roster, in the dust. It became too much to navigate for Reed and his family, and the situation began to grow almost disrespectful to the future QB1. Reed shared about his experience with recruiting after he decommitted, as opposed to when he committed to Ole Miss.
"I had other coaches recruiting me at the time," said Reed, "who, once I decommitted, were coming on home visits. Lane didn't come on the home visit; there were coaches that came from Ole Miss, but the other schools had head coaches. They came and visited me, so with that, I thought it was a respect thing."
Fortunately for Reed, his story didn't end there, and he ultimately made a decision somewhere he loved. Ironically, Reed getting out of his commitment for lack of clarity on Lane Kiffin was a great call, given that he eventually did leave Ole Miss to be the head coach at LSU. In the interview, Reed explained that after he decommitted from the Rebels, he claimed a newfound love for the Texas A&M Aggies.
"I really liked A&M when I went," said Reed, "A&M was a top school for me. They had a commit early on, and he decommitted, so that kind of opened up my opportunity to go visit the school. I went there, and I thought it was amazing. I mean, when you go look at Kyle Field, and it's empty, that place looks like it can fit 300,000 people."
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Dylan Fonville is a journalist for Texas A&M Aggies on SI from San Antonio, Texas. He attends Texas A&M, majoring in journalism and minoring in sports management. He loves all sports and competition, specifically the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Cowboys. Currently on staff, he made his journalism debut at The Battalion, the Texas A&M newspaper. In addition to writing, he loves the world of sports broadcasting and hopes to be a color commentator in the future.
Follow dylanfonville