The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545830
24 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY NOAH FLEISCHMAN n the days leading up to NC State's trip to the Gasparilla Bowl last December, quarterback CJ Bailey wasn't sure what his future held. He was asked point blank whether he would consider entering the transfer portal after the season, but at the time, he didn't know. What he did know was that he wanted to go home to Mi- ami to decompress after the Wolfpack wrapped up its 2025 cam- paign. Back in the comfortable surround- ings of the city where he had grown up, he would have a chance to talk with his parents and weigh his options. Bailey's noncommittal answer left some Wolfpack fans feeling nervous. Would the program's homegrown star look to go somewhere else, just as prede- cessors Devin Leary and Russell Wilson had done years earlier? A sense of deja vu emerged on social media with pundits weighing in. But those fears were quickly extin- guished. Exactly two weeks later, on the first day of the college football transfer portal opening, Bailey made his inten- tions clear. He posted a simple graphic on social media with four words emblazoned on it: "Back with the Pack." For Bailey, who finished with a ca- reer-best 3,105 passing yards and 31 to- tal touchdowns in 2025, returning to NC State for his junior campaign was a matter of following his heart. "That decision took a little while to come out, but I already had my mind set," he said this spring. "I wanted to come back to NC State. Of course there was more stuff to it with the decision-mak- ing, but in my heart, I already knew I wanted to be at NC State." Not only did NC State have Bailey's heart, but it also was the place that he felt was best equipped to help him make another jump in his production heading into his third year as a starter. Retention Efforts Head coach Dave Doeren said there were two facets to the quarterback's rea- soning. First, NC State is the program Bailey believed in when Doeren and of- fensive coordinator Kurt Roper began recruiting him out of Chaminade-Ma- donna Prep in Hollywood, Fla. Other schools were infatuated with the Lions' star-studded wide receiver corps, but NC State was interested in Bailey, and that interest was mutual. Second, in today's age of college athlet- ics, the paycheck had to make sense. In the end, the Wolfpack did everything in its power to retain its quarterback. "I knew that he came here for several reasons, and one of them was to leave this place in a better spot than it was when I A SHOT IN A SHOT IN THE ARM THE ARM Back For His Junior Season, CJ Bailey Looks To Elevate NC State's Offense