Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed Changed His Phone Number After Fans Doxxed Him Following Kentucky Loss

Marcel Reed threw two interceptions in a home loss. Some fans decided that meant they were entitled to his personal phone number.

The Texas A&M quarterback told On3's Carter Karels he had to change his number after the Aggies' 31-21 loss to Kentucky in Week 3, a game that dropped the No. 9 Aggies out of the AP Top 10 entirely, landing them at No. 23. Reed went 26 of 49 for 236 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, adding 80 rushing yards and a score on the ground. It wasn't good enough, and it wasn't Reed's only issue that day, but nothing on a stat sheet justifies what came next.

"I kind of had a feeling it happened, because I got calls like back to back to back to back," Reed said, according to On3. "I'm pretty sure I got called from like 18 different states. But I didn't answer a single one. Some you would see like the new voicemail thing, you can see like the words at the bottom. So I eventually turned my phone off and just ended up watching college football for the rest of the night. I didn't pay any mind to it."

Doxxing, publishing someone's private details without consent, is not free speech. It's harassment, and in some states it can carry legal consequences. No investigation has been announced and no one has been named as responsible for the leak, so it's unclear right now whether this gets pursued as anything beyond a nightmare weekend for Reed.

The Football Behind the Fallout

Kentucky wasn't supposed to do this. The Wildcats entered Week 3 with one loss, unranked, and left with a signature win. Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey, a Notre Dame transfer who lost the starting job in South Bend before landing in Lexington, went 14 of 18 for 252 yards and two touchdowns, posting a 232.0 passer rating, according to Sportsnaut's SEC quarterback rankings. Wildcats coach Will Stein didn't hide his satisfaction afterward, telling reporters, "This is what Kentucky football is supposed to look like," a line USA TODAY's Blake Toppmeyer picked up on in his column arguing the SEC's depth is real, not just conference marketing.

USA TODAY's weekly "Fraud Alert" power rankings column put it bluntly: Texas A&M was "guilty" in Week 3, one of several ranked teams that got caught flat-footed. That's a fair football verdict.

This isn't new territory for Reed. He faced heavy criticism last season after losses to Texas and to Miami in the Aggies' first-round College Football Playoff exit, a game that ended an 11-0 start with back-to-back losses. In May, Reed told a youth football camp he doesn't lose to LSU, a comment that will get relitigated hard depending on what happens Saturday.

What's Next

Texas A&M travels to face No. 10 LSU on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, and both teams are coming off losses with almost no margin left for a second one if they want to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation. LSU lost to Ole Miss after blowing a 17-point second-half lead and throwing a game-ending interception, according to USA TODAY, which still ruled the Tigers "not guilty" given how hard they fought back.

LSU has its own quarterback under the microscope. Former Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers said on air this week that Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt is playing "backyard football" in Lane Kiffin's quick-passing scheme and is "on a short leash now," according to Yardbarker and A to Z Sports, with backup Landen Clark waiting in the wings if Leavitt struggles again.

Saturday night in Baton Rouge decides a lot: playoff hopes for both programs, bragging rights on Reed's own prediction from May, and whether Reed gets a win loud enough to drown out whatever comes across his new phone number next.