Eli Drinkwitz says Mizzou staffer, sister of Texas A&M's Marcel Reed, won't be at practice

No. 25 Texas A&M will look for a top-10 win on Saturday when the Aggies welcome No. 9 Missouri to Kyle Field.

College football coaches love to use game tactics during the week, and Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz is no different.

While Texas A&M lists the injured Conner Weigman as questionable, Drinkwitz said he expects Reed to start Saturday, despite “semantics.” There are also some family ties when the Tigers and Aggies take the field, as Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed has a family member on the Mizzou team.

Reed's sister, Briah, is the assistant director of campus recruiting for Missouri.

Aside from the question of who will start at QB, Drinkwitz is also mindful of the family ties that come with it.

“It creates an interesting dynamic,” Drinkwitz said earlier this week. “At the end of the day, this is her brother and this is her blood and we know she is doing her job here. But family is always so important and that's why we don't want them to have any conflict of interest

“In fact, I saw her in the hallway just a second ago. But I won’t let her in the copy room, and she certainly won’t keep an eye on the scouting report.”

During Wednesday's SEC conference call with Aggies coach Mike Elko and Drinkwitz, the two coaches joked about the situation.

“I was hoping that maybe she could go out to practice and find out some secrets for it,” Elko joked. “No, of course I’m joking. That would be pushing the boundaries.”

While Drinkwitz may have been joking about Briah Reed earlier in the week, he confirmed Wednesday that he was completely serious about the way the Tigers are handling the conflict of interest.

“No, I wasn’t joking. No, Briah is great,” he said. “I actually didn’t know until after the Florida game [Marcel Reed] was her brother. If she wants to go to practice, I'm sure she could be out there, probably just like the media, for the first five hours.”

Nobody is as paranoid as college coaches, and Drinkwitz isn't taking any chances ahead of the match in College Station.

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