NC State QB CJ Bailey announces return for junior season

NC State weathered a wave of transfer portal entries over the past two weeks. Now, it has good news. Sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey will return for his junior season, he announced on social media.

Bailey heads into the 2026 season as one of the more-highly touted signal-callers in college football. He’s coming off his best season yet after he posted 3,105 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions to help pace the Pack to an eight-win campaign.

The 6-foot-6, 210-pound quarterback threw for at least 200 yards in 10 of his 13 starts this fall, including a trio of 300-plus yard performances. Bailey excelled down the stretch of the year, accounting for seven total touchdowns without a turnover as the Wolfpack won each of its final three games.

Bailey, who was thrown into the fire as the Pack’s starter as a freshman due to concussions to Grayson McCall in 2024, threw for 2,413 yards with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a freshman.

The Miami, Fla., native has now accounted for 35 total touchdowns with no turnovers in the red zone in his collegiate career. Bailey also completed 68.8 percent of his passes this past season, which was the second-best single-campaign mark in program history, only trailing Philip Rivers’ 72.1 percent in 2003.

He was likely to be one of the more-coveted signal-callers in the portal with his tall frame and excellent decision-making skills, but instead he opted to return to the Wolfpack in a major win for the program.