Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz raised some eyebrows when he said Briah Reed, the team's assistant director of on campus recruiting, is "not allowed at practice this week" as the Tigers prepare to face a Texas A&M team featuring her brother, Marcel Reed. The Aggies' redshirt freshman quarterback could make his fourth consecutive start Saturday as No. 25 Texas A&M host No. 9 Mizzou in a key SEC battle.
Drinkwitz doubled down Wednesday during the SEC coaches teleconference, saying that he "wasn't joking," and that if Briah Reed wanted to watch practice, "she could be out there probably same as the media, first five periods."
"It's created an interesting dynamic," Drinkwitz said. "At the end of the day, that's her brother and that's her blood, and we know that she's doing her job here. But family is always so important, and so we don't want her to be in any type of conflict of interest. In fact, I just saw her in the hallway just a second ago. But I'm not letting her in the copy room and she's sure not going to have her eyes on the scouting report."
Drinkwitz said he didn't know about Reed's connection to the Aggies program until Marcel led the Aggies to a victory at Florida in Week 3; he began the season as Texas A&M's backup before starter Conner Weigman injured his shoulder. Aggies coach Mike Elko said Weigman will be a "game-time decision" against Missouri, but Drinkwitz indicated the Tigers are formulating a defensive game plan around Reed.
The Nashville, Tennessee, native has completed 43 of 79 passes for 585 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions this season, while rushing for 230 yards and two scores. He was a four-star prospect in the Class of 2023, according to 247Sports.
"At this point, I know on their depth chart, it says the other kid is the starting quarterback," Drinkwitz said. "But that's just semantics in my opinion. [Reed] is 3-0 as the starter. Whether he's listed as questionable or whatever, I don't see them going back. They're 3-0, they clearly have a different offensive identity with [Reed] as quarterback, and they've developed an offense that fits around his system. It's a lot different than the first game of the year. If they go with the other one, they go with the other one. But they've kind of already built the offense towards Marcel."
