Sources: Texas A&M to make game-time QB call
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman‘s injured shoulder is improving and he is healthy enough where he’s expected to dress and be available against No. 9 Missouri on Saturday, sources told ESPN.
After not dressing against last week against Arkansas and not playing since Sept. 7, Weigman has taken meaningful reps and improved enough where he will be back in uniform for the No. 25 Aggies, sources said.
The decision whether to start Weigman or Marcel Reed is a game-time one, per sources. Reed looms as the expected starter for the fourth straight game, according to sources, who cautioned that if Weigman is feeling 100% that there is a chance that he could resume his starting role.
Weigman’s participation has increased in practice this week after he was not cleared to play against Arkansas. With his activity in practice ramping up and with him available Saturday, a compelling decision at the quarterback position will loom for the Texas A&M coaching staff in the near future.
Weigman clearly earned the job out of camp as Texas A&M’s best quarterback, which will factor into the staff’s decision, sources said. Reed played at a high level against Florida and has been solid but unspectacular in the past two games.
Texas A&M gained just 297 total yards against Arkansas, as Reed went 11-for-22 and gained just 13 rushing yards on 10 carries. (He took three sacks, contributing to that low total.) Reed ran for 91 yards against Bowling Green but was 16-for-29 passing.
That came in the wake of an efficient performance against Florida, as Reed rushed for 83 yards and completed 11 of 17 passes. Texas A&M finished that game with 488 yards on offense.
The Texas A&M passing game has been inhibited by a pedestrian receiving corps, as Cyrus Allen is the team’s leading receiver with 11 catches for 203 yards. Texas A&M’s passing offense is No. 117 in the country and last in the SEC with 162 yards per game.
Weigman has been out since the second week of the season, as he injured the AC joint in his throwing shoulder in the season-opening loss to Notre Dame. He aggravated that injury in Week 2 against McNeese and has missed the three subsequent games.
Missouri wide receiver Marquis Johnson is a game-time decision as well, sources said. Johnson, who has been listed as questionable, has 12 catches for 117 yards this year for the Tigers.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
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