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SEC aura helped lure Bailey to ECU
By
Sammy Batten
©2016 Bonesville.net
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Sean Bailey's earliest ambition was
to become a firefighter like his father, uncle and grandfather before
him. But by middle school Bailey changed his mind and opted for another
family profession.
“I wanted to be a fireman until middle school when I realized football
might be a better thing for me,'' Bailey said last week.
The change of career path paid off for the 6-foot-6, 335-pound offensive
lineman from Lambert High School in Cumming, GA, earlier this month when
he signed a national letter of intent to play collegiately at East
Carolina. Bailey was one of several late additions to ECU's recruiting
class made by first-year head coach Scottie Montgomery after he took
over the program in late December.
Cincinnati had previously received a verbal commitment from Bailey since
last summer. But a whirlwind recruitment by the Pirates culminated with
an pivotal in-home visit from Montgomery and offensive line coach Geep
Wade in January.
“Sean had been committed to Cincinnati since mid-summer and everybody
assumed he was going to Cincinnati,'' said Lambert High coach Louis
Daniels. “But Coach Wade and Coach Montgomery showed a lot of interest
in Sean, and they requested a sitdown to meet with us.
“We said, 'Sure. Sean will talk to anybody.' But personally I didn't see
it (change) coming. So they sat down and talked with him, and about two
weeks later he decided East Carolina is where he wanted to go to
school.''
Bailey was swayed by Wade in particular.
“I really liked the way their offensive line coach explained what they
planned to do,'' Bailey said. “He described all their drills, which are
similar to what we do here. Then, when I got up to their campus it had a
totally different feel. It feels like an SEC school, like a miniature
Athens (Georgia) or something.''
When Bailey signed a letter of intent with the Pirates on Feb. 3rd, it
marked another stage of a journey that began when he chose football over
firefighting.
That life-altering decision wasn't a spur-of-the-moment one for Bailey.
Like firefighting, football was in his blood.
His father, Steve Bailey, was good enough as an offensive guard to earn
a scholarship offer from Boston College out of high school. But a
coaching change three weeks before national signing day sent the elder
Bailey off to Kent State instead.
Once committed to football, Sean Bailey's above-average size got him
recognized by Daniels and his staff before he arrived at Lambert High
School.
“I can't remember what feeder school he went to, but we saw him the
spring (of eighth grade year) at a lacrosse game or soccer match,''
Daniels said. “You couldn't miss him. He was 6-4, probably, 280 or 300
pounds at that point. He was a large boy and we were real excited about
him.
“Athletically, he was pretty good already. But he still had some
maturing to do strengthwise.''
Bailey spent his first year at Lambert playing for the freshman team
before earning a starting varsity job as a sophomore. He would go on to
start three seasons for the Longhorns, earning all-region and all-county
honors as a junior and senior.
Lambert produced a stellar 8-3 record in 2015 and reached the state
playoffs behind an offense that produced 3,613 total yards. Bailey made
a major contribution on that unit by grading out at 90 percent on his
blocking assignments and compiling 85 pancake blocks. He made 11 of
those pancake blocks in one game against Chattahoochee High.
One of the season's biggest moments for Bailey came early in the year
during a major region contest against Lambert rival Alpharetta. The
Longhorns had been regional runner-ups to Alpharetta for two straight
years when the teams met last September 18 in Alpharetta.
“We knew the game was a big deal because they had won two straight
regional championships, and they were the team to beat again,'' Daniels
said. “They had a real good defensive lineman who had caused us a lot of
issues the previous two years. But in the second quarter we ran a power
play. Sean drives the kid off the ball about 15 yards down the field. He
drives him down the field – and it was clean as a whistle – and pounds
him into the ground about 15 yards from the pile.
“It was kind of symbolic, like, 'Hey, we're here this year. You're going
to have to beat us this time around.' We wound up beating them (17-14)
that night and we kind of turned a corner for us as a program.''
Bailey has played left tackle for the Longhorns and that appears to be
where he'll play at East Carolina as well. With offensive linemen having
completed their eligibility with the Pirates at the end of the 2015
season, there could be some early playing time available for younger
blockers like Bailey next fall.
“They (ECU coaches) brought up the idea of starting me right away or as
a redshirt freshman,'' Bailey said. “It's just my job to go in there and
dominate, beat everyone out of my way and let the chips fall where they
may. It's kind of up to me at this point.''
Either way, Daniels believes Bailey has the work ethic to get where he
needs to be to contribute at ECU.
“Physically, he's there as far as his size is concerned,'' Daniels said.
“One thing he needs to keep improving is his strength. He's a strong boy
already and they have one of the best strength coaches in the nation to
work with him. Sean is a gym rat. He works his tail off every day. He's
going to keep maturing and I think his ceiling is unlimited.''
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02/24/2016 02:33 AM |
