It’s Thursday night, and you know what that means: it’s mail call time!

Q: Tell us what you “really think” about Marcel’s comments to the press, about his hatred for texas (even their school colors – good grief). You think Elko approves of remarks like those from a team leader? I doubt it. And of course, Marcel put a big target on his back. Some players thrive with extra pressure on themselves in big games, but I’m not sure Marcel Reed is one of those players. (WalkOnDad)

A: I think it’s great. He knows what he did. He’s confident, maybe a little cocky. He’s not just talking smack, he’s firing up the fanbase and putting pressure on himself. Now it’s up to him to walk the walk.

The last time the Aggies had a cocky quarterback, it worked pretty well.

Q: Call your shot with one being less than ten and a better than b. (R23)

A: 47.

Q: I am still surprised as to the omission of Bryce Anderson from the depth chart. Have you uncovered any clear explanations? (NemoJones)

A: Let’s see if he’s on the sidelines Saturday night. That will tell us all we need to know. I still think it was a goof-up, but we’ll see.

Q: how confident are you in Holman Wiggins running the offense? Have you heard anything behind the scenes about how he is doing in terms of scheming up this offense? I’m cautiously optimistic that Elko nailed this hire but would love to hear your thoughts. (Soggybiscuit)

A: I’m pretty excited to see what he does, truth be told. I can understand why people are anxious or worried, but I’ve liked what we’ve been able to see this summer. I also think he recognizes that he has a lot of weapons at receiver and knows how to utilize all of Reed’s skillset, so I want to see if my speculation is right or if I’m full of it.

Q: Hopping on the previous question, how would Playcaller Mark script the first couple of series? Go all out aggressive? Conservative to try to settle Reed into a groove? Just move the ball? Bombs away to our WRs? (Froppe)

A: I’m going to look to shove the ball down their throat and let the understand that this game is going to be very tough for them. Get a little quick passing game going, since they’ve got the speed to make those chunk plays, but take over the line of scrimmage immediately. Then they can get more aggressive. I know it’s not an SEC game, but if you want to win in the SEC, you go out and whip the other guy at the line of scrimmage. No time like the present than to get that going and to see what this new line can do.

Q: Chances that the SEC goes thermal nuclear if Lame and L$U actually follow through with “NFL” players seeing the field? (BVOSUX)

A: They’ve sued them, so I’d put that chance at about 100%.

Q: I say there is a less than 5% chance of a former NFL player is suited up on the sidelines of any LSU game this season. I think Lane enjoys stirring the pot, and whatever theoretical benefit there is to having that player on the team is not worth the suspensions and money it would probably cost.

Am I wrong? (Boone8466)

A: I think the odds are a lot better than that, because a Baton Rouge judge will likely allow it tonight. And then it will be overruled later and LSU will be buried. I don’t think this is Lane stirring the pot, this is him trying to do anything he can, whether legal or ethical, to win. And the entire LSU leadership, the attorney general and the governor support him. It’s pretty sick.

(Note: the players had their temporary restraining order upheld. They are “eligible”.)

Q: When all this LSU NFL crap is over, what do you see the SEC/Sankey/Board doing to LSU/Kiffin? Slap in the wrist? worse officiating (if possible)? No more night games? or something big?

A: It’s going to be big. You don’t sue someone you’re mildly upset with.

Is Sankey or the SEC Board really pissed at them? 

Oh yeah.

will they make LSU pay? (Mexaggie)

That’s the idea. It’s personal now.

Q: What is your biggest fear as we start the season? (H273)

A: An injury to Marcel Reed. Either that or offensive line issues.

Q: What do you think our splits are going to be on offense? Do you see us being pass first, run first, balanced, or do you think our talent is on par for us to just take what the defense gives us and exploit the defenses weaknesses?

A: I think they’ll be balanced, maybe with a little lean towards the running game. Elko always likes to grind opponents down and control time of possession. But we don’t know precisely what Wiggins will do.

I think this might be the toughest schedule we have been up against in my lifetime. Is there a season you can ever recall being as tough of a schedule as ours appears to be on paper? (Cgarrett5)

Yeah, last year. Didn’t quite work out that way.

Q: Does Brady Hart win a national championship with Texas A&M before it’s all said and done? I’m not sure why, but some of the things I’m hearing make me feel like he could be the one to take us to the promised land some day as he matures. (SoggyBiscuit)

A: It’s hard to say anyone’s going to win a natty, but Hart is going to have the benefit of coming in with maybe the most explosive set of weapons any Aggie quarterback’s had. He may have Rueben Owens; he will very likely have Jamarion Morrow, KJ Edwards, Tiger Riden and Carsyn Baker, and likely someone from the portal. Then at receiver, he’ll have Ashton Bethel-Roman, Aaron Gregory, Terry Bussey, Madden Williams, Jayden Warren, Kelshaun Johnson, TK Norman, Jaden Upshaw, Eric McFarland, Damani Warren and Trey Haddad at receiver. Richie Anderson could return at tight end, along with Kiotti Armstrong, Caleb Tafua, KK Johnson, Evan Jacobson and Holden Niemi — if he starts next year, that is. If it’s 2028, it gets even more interesting.

Q: I am not pointing fingers at any one team, so here goes. What would you guess would be the mood of a locker room where you have a player, let’s say a defensive tackle who, during spring ball fought his way up to DT1. Spring concludes with him still ranked DT1. Now, fall practice starts and he maintains his DT1 ranking and is prepared to start game 1. Then, 5 days before the start of the first game, he finds out he has lost his starting position to a player who just joined the team by questionable means. I don’t care how dysfunctional the team and the coaching staff is, this has to be a major problem for the morale of the whole team. It could happen to any player. What say you? (JohnRobert)

A: I say you’re talking about LSU and that’s ok. I also think that you’re right, that something like this could really nuke a locker room. I’d be really pissed if someone strolled in and took my job after I won it fair and square because another guy played for the coach at Ole Miss and got cut from an NFL team. And I’ll bet most of the locker room would agree.

Q: Been wanting to ask this one for a while

Texas has been a terrible running team the last 2 years and we have had a pretty good run defense – why have they been able to kick our ass in the run game when we played? Is it scheme – like we didn’t commit to stopping it? Or something else? It just doesn’t make sense to me that they have suddenly found a running game against us when they couldn’t even establish it against much weaker defenses all year. (Reez05)

A: Two things in both games: one, A&M played sloppy defensively Two, Texas whipped them on the line. It’s really that simple.

Q: Do you think football and basketball should follow baseball in letting players get drafted but retain eligibility until they sign a contract. (QuickDrawMcGraw77)

A: No, as far as I’m concerned, if you declare for the draft, you’re done. Of course, right now everything has gone to hell, so who knows what’s going to happen from here on out.

Q: Does Marcel come out of this weekend’s game at some point if we’re way ahead? 

A: Yes, absolutely.

If so, what are you looking for from the backup?

Consistency. I don’t want sloppy play and turnovers.

Why did Marcel feel the need to poke the ahole?

I can’t answer that, but I think it’s a challenge to himself as much as anything.

What do you think of the Steve Balmer/LA Clippers penalties?

Appropriate. I just find it ridiculous that, with the insane amount of money NBA players get, that they still felt like they needed to circumvent the salary cap.

Are the 2 pro players on LSU’s campus and practicing? (Tip despiser)

They are practicing and they will be added to the roster tomorrow.

Q: Along these lines, call your shot on how you think this saga ends. It will never end while Lane is there is not an acceptable response. (Ricky)

A: I think this is working just like I thought. No judge in Louisiana was going to stop LSU from cheat..having new talent added to their roster. The SEC has sued in federal court and they have a strong case (IMO). So LSU may have won right now, but there’s severely bad blood now. And I think this will get them when it’s all over.

Q: Will Tiger Riden medical redshirt 2026?

A: There are no more redshirts. Five years to play five.

Will that push his eligibility to 2029?

He was already in that position.

Do you go see a lot of HS games?

If so, What stadium is your favorite to see a game? (Spar2cus)

I haven’t been to a high school game in years. But, once Arie is back in shape to handle things on her own, I intend to get back at it.

Q: Is it known how much the two prospective lsu players got paid by nfl teams? (QuickDrawMcGraw77)

A: I saw one of them got $50,000 or something like that, but they’re probably going to get, in the words of one of them, “seven digits” at LSU.