CJ Bailey’s Growth Key to Unlocking NC State’s Offensive Potential

Every program has something to look forward to before each season, and for fans of the North Carolina State Wolfpack, it's the success of sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey.

Bailey was thrust into the starting role in 2024 after Grayson McCall suffered an injury that sidelined him during a game against Louisiana Tech. Bailey showcased his talents to the Wolfpack faithful by winning the game, accumulating 183 total yards, rushing for a touchdown, while throwing one interception.

He finished his 2024 campaign throwing for 2,413 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions and he added 279 yards with his legs and five scores. A promising start, but some aspects of his game can improve going into 2025. What exactly are they?

Wallpaper Wednesday 📲 CJ Bailey pic.twitter.com/rOWPiE46Kz
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) May 28, 2025

Anticipation of throws

Anticipating that a route will become open before the snap is one of the integral parts of being a quarterback at any level. The task isn't easy, as defenses can constantly shift their pre-snap look into something utterly different post-snap. Still, it's all about trusting your eyes as a quarterback and digesting information in half a second.

Bailey struggled to do that on certain occasions in 2024, and quite frankly, it's to be expected from a true freshman taking the reins of an offense, especially when he wasn't expected to play a season ago.

In the clip above, NC State comes out in an 11 personnel, 4x0 look towards the strong side of the field. Bailey signals his innermost receiver to motion towards the short side of the field, making it a 1x3 look towards the wide side of the field.

Syracuse before the motion is showing a single mug look, in which later becomes a 4-3 look but the backers are close to the line of scrimmage, with a single high safety over the middle, as the motion happens the corner covering the receiver signals to the safety to follow the motions (in case of a jet sweep of any sort), in which the corner now becomes the single high safety.

What this tells Bailey is he most likely has man coverage on this play, and with the look the defense is giving, some sort of pressure is also possible. When Bailey snaps the ball, the line shifts left, but it's a half sprint out toward the wide side of the field. The running back runs a flat route, the slot receiver runs an out and the outside receiver runs a streak.

You can see it's man coverage as Syracuse opts to blitz five, and Bailey, if he anticipated it, has his out route by his slot receiver open for a quick moment if he releases the ball before he gets out of his break. Bailey looks off the out route, towards his backside route, which is fully covered, ends up getting pressured, then throws the ball away.

At times last season, former Wolfpack offensive coordinator Robert Anae schemed open some underneath routes that made it easy for Bailey to anticipate a route becoming open. In the clip above, NC State comes out in a 1x3 look with the running back on the formation's strong side towards the wide side of the field.

Again, Bailey singles his innermost receiver to come across the formation and snaps it while he's in motion. When the motion is signaled, the corner on the short side of the field backs off his press and into his zone.

Bailey can anticipate his route will be open because the cornerback is off and still backpedaling as his receiver is about to make his break. He still makes and completes the throw, but it still takes him that extra second to process that his sit route is open. He didn't fully trust his eyes and delivered the ball as his receiver turned around. It's not a big deal here, but it could've been if the coverage was tighter.

It's not bad for Bailey to still not fully trust what he sees pre- and post-snap in his first year as a college quarterback. There were many instances a season ago when Bailey showcased his talents, which is why he is optimistic that he can become the real deal. For that to happen, anticipating what routes will be open against certain looks is a step in the development process, Bailey hopefully took this past offseason.

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