CJ Bailey Talks Gasparilla Bowl While Future Remains Murky
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RALEIGH — It's not an overstatement to say nearly all of NC State's potential success in the 2026 season hinges on sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey's decision to stay with the program or explore other options in the transfer portal. College football is a transactional sport at this point and while Bailey appears to be happy with the Wolfpack, outside forces often prevail.
For now, the young signal caller wants nothing more than to bring a bowl victory back to Raleigh. He'll get his chance, as NC State is set to play Memphis in the Gasparilla Bowl back in Bailey's home state of Florida. The sophomore spoke Thursday about his mindset heading into the matchup, but didn't provide firm answers on his future.
Watch Bailey's press conference
Breaking down Bailey's thoughts
As a freshman, Bailey helped the Wolfpack reach the 2024 Military Bowl, a game that ended in bitter defeat for NC State at the hands of East Carolina. To make matters worse, several members of the two teams got into a brawl in the final minutes. It prompted Bailey to promise a turnaround culturally and within the team leadership in 2025, something he lived up to.
"Losing never feels good, especially when it was to ECU," Bailey said. "We had to prove a point in that first game this year and we don't want to do that next year. We want to come in ready with a chip on our shoulder after a good win in the bowl game."
While Bailey has not indicated that he has desires to leave NC State, his performance caused many outlets to predict a potential move. Any discussion of interest from other schools is purely speculative at this point, although hard to ignore. Bailey was asked directly about his feelings about the near future and whether any decisions had been made.
"I plan to go home and talk to my mom and my dad and just relax and enjoy my time off," the sophomore said.
Bailey's answer didn't ring any major alarm bells. It was a professional answer from a young player in a sport increasingly mirroring the professional level of football rather than one built on the idea of amateurism. Those days are gone. Even with the external factors at play, Bailey wants to stay in the present.
"How to balance it is just think about this game coming up," Bailey said. "Let everything else handle itself. I'm not too much into what's going on outside of what's in this building right now and us getting a win in the bowl game."
The sophomore quarterback made major progress in his development in his second season in Raleigh, establishing a rapport with some of his receivers and continuing to build a productive relationship with offensive coordinator Kurt Roper. With the season coming to an end, Bailey had time to reflect on his areas of growth.
"As a player, the one big emphasis that I had this year was to be good at my leadership, which was really great," he said. "As for my skill set, I'll say, just being able to take what they give me... We had a lot of shots this year... My biggest thing this year was just finding those layoffs, getting the ball out of my hand, and making good decisions."
As many other programs around the country began to view bowl games as less important than they once were, NC State head coach Dave Doeren maintains a traditional perspective. He views bowls as a reward for a season's worth of hard work. Bailey agrees and wants to become the first Wolfpack quarterback to win a bowl since Ryan Finley in 2017.
"I've never won a bowl game before. I need one. I need a win and the program needs a win. We need to try to find a way to bounce back from all those losses we had and it's gonna start from right here," Bailey said. "We get this one right here, it's just gonna build for the future of the program. And let's go keep stacking bowl wins."
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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