Dave Doeren Sees CJ Bailey Thriving With Wolfpack's Miami Transfers

RALEIGH — CJ Bailey started laying the foundations for several players he overlapped with during his high school days in the Miami metropolitan area to join NC State during the 2025 season. When he decided to return to the Wolfpack for a third season, the coaching and recruiting staff went to work, getting the talented quarterback help on both sides of the ball from places he knew well.

Now, the South Florida reunion that unfolded over the last few weeks of December and all of January is beginning to show its first signs of success. The Wolfpack began spring practices in early March, with Bailey surrounded by old friends and rivals from his days at Chaminade-Madonna in Hollywood, Fla. For coach Dave Doeren, seeing Bailey work with his new teammates breeds confidence for 2026.

Clicking early

Nov 15, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; NC State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren looks on against Miami Hurricanes during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The signs of a successful strategy in the transfer portal showed up before the players even took the field with one another. Doeren could see the chemistry within the group of players, including running back Davion Gause (UNC), wide receiver Joshisa Trader (Miami) and Chance Robinson (Miami). There were others, but those three grew up with Bailey, with the first two playing alongside him at Chaminade-Madonna.

"They're having a lot of fun," Doeren said. "We were at a dinner. One of the last guys came in on an official visit and they were all at the table together. My wife and I were having dinner with them and they were just reminiscing about Pop Warner and about things that used to happen when they were growing up."

Dec 19, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; NC State Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey (11) throws a pass against the Memphis Tigers in the first quarter during the Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

By the end of the transfer portal process, the Wolfpack roster included 12 players with ties to the Greater Miami Area, including the most important one of all, Bailey. While it's a massive area and not all of them grew up with one another or played against each other, there's a connective tissue within the roster that didn't always exist in years past. Doeren is embracing it wholeheartedly.

"It's cool. It builds chemistry when you have guys that have chemistry already," Doeren said. "At the same time, man, those guys are competitive. They're friends and all that, but when they get on the field, watching King (Mack) guard those guys on offense and them trying to beat him, seeing how competitive they are, it's fun."

The landscape of college football shifted entirely with the addition of the transfer portal windows. A sport that once focused on player development over three to four years became one predicated on immediate gratification and proven talent, as the demand for success on a yearly basis increased with the number of players on the move each offseason. Doeren and NC State seem to have found a way around that, blending the best of both worlds.

"That's the hard part when you're adding 40-plus new players a year," Doeren said. "When you add your high school, junior college and portal guys together and some of them already have that chemistry coming in the door, it does shorten that curve a little bit for the team."

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