Texas A&M tight end Micah Riley sees a lot more than just a quarterback in Marcel Reed. He sees a teammate he’s been building with all offseason, a leader whose voice is getting louder, and a player he’s willing to follow anywhere if it helps the offense move.
That bond has become a big part of the Aggies’ summer and fall camp buildup, with Riley saying the relationship between him and Reed has grown steadily as the weeks have passed.
“Marcel and I have really built our relationship this offseason,” Riley said. “If he went to Nashville, I'd be like, 'Where are you?
I'm coming.' My job is to make things easy for him.
That's really the whole offense, and we take pride in that. If he needs me to run a route at 10 yards and roll it to 12, I'm running it at 10 and rolling it to 12.
Whatever he tells us or needs from us, we need to do. That's how teams win.
All offseason I've been asking what he wants from me, what he needs, and just being there when he needs it.”
Reed’s role as a captain has come with more than just command in the huddle. Riley said the quarterback has been more direct with the full team, making sure everyone understands where they need to be and what has to happen for the offense to function cleanly.
“He's become more vocal with the whole team, telling guys where they need to be and how everything needs to be structured for him to succeed,” Riley stated. “He's worked hand in hand with Coach Lynch and Coach Wiggins to make sure everything is dialed in and detailed before we even get into camp.
Day one shouldn't be the first time we're running through plays. We should already understand what we're doing and why we're doing it.
I think he's done a really good job explaining that to the young guys and the players we brought in.”
Riley also pointed to the way leadership shows up when things go sideways. He brought up a conversation with Theo Melin-Ohstrom after a rough moment, saying part of being a teammate is helping someone reset before the frustration takes over.
“Theo and I talked about that afterward,” Riley said. “That's my best friend, so knowing he had a bad play and was probably going to be in his head about it, my job, even though I wasn't on the field, was to grab him and say, 'Hey, we've still got time left.
This game's not over.' I think that's the culture of this team in general, picking each other up when things go wrong.
This is the SEC. There are going to be bad plays.
There are going to be days when you're struggling. At the end of the day, whoever pushes through, grabs each other and holds each other up is going to win.
That's our culture.”
For Riley, that same approach is part of why he was trusted with a captaincy in the first place. He said the job comes down to honesty, consistency and being willing to speak up when the standard slips.
“I think I'm honest, and I'm not scared to communicate with coaches or players when things aren't going the way they need to,” Riley said. “If we have a standard, I think my job is to uphold that standard no matter what it is.
I think the guys trust me, believe in me and know I'm the same person every single day. Those are traits I try to carry with me.
That's something my mom raised me on, and I try to be that person every single day.”
That combination of Riley’s steadiness and Reed’s growing command has become part of the identity inside Mike Elko’s program, and both players will be counted on as Texas A&M pushes ahead with national title ambitions this season.
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