QB CJ Bailey rises to occasion, impresses in NC State’s win over Louisiana Tech

CJ Bailey could see it coming. Louisiana Tech’s Isaiah McElvane found a lane and was barreling down towards NC State’s freshman quarterback in crunch time. But with a 3-point lead, Bailey remained composed and delivered a strike to junior tight end Justin Joly as he was hit early in the fourth quarter.

The pass, which followed a 19-yard sideline dart to redshirt freshman Noah Rogers, went for 34 yards and moved the Wolfpack inside the Bulldogs’ 15-yard line. Graduate left tackle Anthony Belton patted Bailey on the back and four plays later, the quarterback capped the drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown — his first of his NC State career. 

“I was just going off what the defense did,” Bailey said after NC State’s 30-20 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday afternoon. “The defense was making plays, so I had to step in and make plays as well. Once I made that first play, it just kept on going like a domino effect.”

But how did Bailey, the Wolfpack’s first-year quarterback, find himself in a key spot of NC State’s season? An undisclosed injury to starter Grayson McCall — more details are set to be released Monday — forced the former three-star recruit into action before halftime. 

Bailey spent some time with the first team in fall camp, but the Wolfpack’s Week 3 game served as his first consistent collegiate snaps. And did he deliver. 

The Miami, Fla., native was 13-of-20 passing for 156 yards with another 27 and the touchdown on the ground. 

Although Bailey was able to make tight-window throws look as if he was playing in his South Florida backyard, the quarterback admitted he was not as confident at first. He had some nervous jitters once the coaching staff told him McCall was done for the game with less than six minutes left to play in the first half. 

And it showed. 

Bailey started his outing just 1-of-3 passing with an interception — his lone completion a 12-yard pass to Rogers. But once he returned to the sideline, Bailey seemed to find a way to let the turnover go. 

As a high school signal-caller at Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna Prep, Bailey admitted that interceptions would get in his head. But now, the quarterback found a way to move past the error. 

Once he did that on the Carter-Finley Stadium home bench, Bailey became an efficient passer for the Wolfpack offense. 

“After that bad mistake I made, I just said, ‘Let’s play ball,’” Bailey said. “’Just go do what you’ve been doing all this time you’ve been playing football. Just go play ball in that second half.’ And that’s what I did.”

Bailey completed his next seven passes in a row, including three for first downs as he settled into a groove, utilizing quick passes with the signal-caller releasing the ball within three seconds of the snap. The quarterback was able to connect for a 28-yard gain to redshirt junior wide receiver Dacari Collins early in the fourth quarter before his sequence to Rogers and Joly helped NC State march down the field with ease. 

While NC State might not have known how Bailey would respond to game pressure, he rose to the occasion. Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren thought Bailey’s ability to calm down and become a leader of the offense was key in his success. 

“I think it’s just poise,” Doeren said. “He just went out there and played the game. Whether he was throwing the football or scrambling or throwing it away, rushing for some tough yards at times … he did a really good job managing it. He looked really poised.”

Bailey’s sense of comfortability appeared to help the rest of the offense explode in the second half. The Wolfpack outgained the Bulldogs 244-122 in the final 30 minutes as the offensive line opened holes in the run game and it kept Bailey on his feet. 

The moment did not seem to be too big for Bailey, who helped lead his high school squad to a Florida state championship a year ago. He seemed cool and collected by the end of the game, flashing a wide grin in his cutoff under shirt postgame. 

And his experience at the college level — six snaps that consisted of four handoffs and two quarterback runs against Tennessee last week — didn’t lead to panic on the Wolfpack sideline. It was actually the opposite.

“CJ, we had his back,” said Joly, who caught two passes for 48 yards. “He has confidence in us and we have confidence in him.”

The game was a learning lesson for Bailey, who will be the Wolfpack’s starting quarterback if McCall’s injury sidelines him moving forward, but he took it in stride. 

Now, NC State is focused on its next opponent: Clemson. That doesn’t mean the freshman quarterback didn’t make waves within the Pack’s locker room with his performance. 

“That was big, honestly,” graduate safety DK Kaufman said. “Next-man up mentality. … CJ did what he had to do. We were behind him the whole way. … I’m happy for him. He got us that dub. True freshman, that’s huge.”