NC State QB CJ Bailey ready to return to hometown with clash at No. 16 Miami looming

CJ Bailey wasn’t a late-bloomer by any means. The quarterback took control of Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna’s offense as a sophomore, and he quickly took the South Florida prep football scene by storm at the helm of one of its top programs. 

The tall, lanky signal-caller, who was surrounded by elite talent all over the field with current Ohio State star wideout Jeremiah Smith as his primary weapon, fired missiles from his right arm each Friday night. He knew how to make the right reads, not letting defenses trick him more than once, while his leadership qualities led to him leading practices and calling some plays in games by his senior season. 

And despite throwing for 9,005 yards with 116 touchdowns and just 17 interceptions on a 67.4 percent completion rate through the 44 games of his high school career, Bailey didn’t get a true look from Miami, his hometown ACC program, until November of his final prep campaign. 

By that time, Bailey had already been committed to NC State for six months. Wolfpack offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper built an impenetrable bond with the quarterback from his sophomore season on, so even though the Hurricanes threw their hat into the ring just a month ahead of signing day 2023, Bailey remained firm in his loyalty to those who believed in him from the beginning.

“Miami came in late at the end of the year,” said Dameon Jones, Bailey’s high school coach. “The main thing why he turned that down is he just didn’t become good his senior year. He was [good] all four years. So, then you want to come in at the end? NC State was there early, so that’s why he stuck with it.”

There was no signing day drama, though publicly it seemed so as he delayed his in-person ceremony even though he had submitted his paperwork to the Wolfpack earlier that day, as Miami tried to flip the high three-star quarterback. Bailey was set on playing at NC State. 

Now, nearly two years to the date of receiving his offer from the Hurricanes, Bailey will lead the Wolfpack into Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m., ESPN) looking to earn the team’s second straight top-20 win against a 16th-ranked Miami squad that can’t afford another hiccup as it hopes to make the College Football Playoff.

As Bailey prepares to take on the program that he once saw himself playing for as a child growing up in South Florida, he doesn’t harbor any ill will towards Miami. He also doesn’t feel a need to prove them wrong, either.

“I’ve been playing well, if that’s not enough to prove to them,” Bailey said with a grin Wednesday. “Just winning overall would put a good stamp on the game. It’s not going to do anything to me and them, personally, if you know what I mean?”

NC State’s offense is clicking on all cylinders for the first time in quite a while. The Wolfpack struggled to move the ball in its losses at Notre Dame and Pitt, entering the red zone just once between those two games, but it went 6-of-6 inside the 20-yard line as Bailey excelled to lead the team past then-No. 8 Georgia Tech 48-36 two weeks ago. The Pack also racked up a season-best 583 yards of total offense, the 15th-most in a single game in school history, in the upset win as Bailey threw for 340 yards.

But just because he’s headed back home, that doesn’t mean Bailey has changed his approach to his preparation. Instead, it seems like the production from the top-10 win over the Yellow Jackets served as a confirmation that everything he’s doing is correct. 

“I’m playing the same way, practicing the same way as a normal game,” Bailey said. “When we had Georgia Tech, I prepared the same way as every week, even though they were a top-ranked team. It’s going to be the same thing. As long as I do that, we’re going to have a good game.”

Now, it’s a matter of repeating that once again this weekend at Miami. NC State, after all, has seen its fortunes go as Bailey has gone this season. The Wolfpack is 5-0 when Bailey posts a QBR above 85.0, including the season-high 97.5 mark he earned against Georgia Tech, but the team is 0-4 when it’s under that near-elite total. Any chance at an upset will come via Bailey’s right arm stretching the field and the Miami native making the right decisions in critical situations.

For Bailey, it comes down to relying on his sky-high confidence to pick opposing defenses apart. Miami, though, will present a new challenge as the Hurricanes own the ACC’s top total and scoring defense, while also ranking second in the league against the run and third in defending against the pass. 

Although this game is taking place in a familiar setting, Bailey is focused on keeping the task at hand his main focus. He expects to hear from more than a dozen family and friends who are expected to be in attendance, but he wants to save that for after the game. His phone will be set on “do not disturb” to keep his sole focus on winning another nationally ranked game. 

Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said he would have a conversation with Bailey before kickoff, mainly surrounding what the quarterback needs to do to earn another win. 

“He’s going to understand the preparation and the practice habits, his eye discipline, and understanding what Coach [Kurt] Roper wants him to do. That’s what’s going to make him feel good at the end of that game and give him the results that he wants,” Doeren said. “We’ve got to take the personal stuff out of it. It’s got to be about how he plays.”

There’s no internal concern that Bailey can’t handle the homecoming. He’s a mature player, especially after being thrust into the starting role a year ago due to Grayson McCall’s pair of concussions. 

But being back home does add a little bit of juice to this game for Bailey. It’s a game he thought about just minutes after wading through a field storm after the upset win over Georgia Tech two weeks ago, quipping, “That’s one I really want.”

Add in the fact that he’s friends with more than a dozen Miami players from growing up as one of the area’s top quarterbacks, including his former high school teammate, wideout Joshisa Trader. Bailey knows he won’t hear the end of it if the Hurricanes come out on top, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep those clad in green and orange quiet moving forward. 

 “I don’t want to hear them talking to me after the game,” Bailey said, “so we’ve got to pull it off.”