WATCH: Dacari Collins Talks CJ Bailey & Being a Leader in the WR Room (with transcript)

Junior Wide Receiver Dacari Collins met with the media yesterday, and he broke down his thoughts on CJ Bailey, and what it means to be a leader in the Wide Receiver room. You can watch it ABOVE, and read the transcript below.

Can you talk a little bit about CJ (Bailey) and what you’ve seen from him through the winter, spring, and now that he’s getting this opportunity to get started this week?

First, I’ll just say, CJ’s a good kid. He loves ball, I’ll say that.

And I’ll say through his journey, he has followed Grayson (McCall) and that has helped him as far as preparation, just knowing what to do in practice, how he carries himself so he can carry himself the same way. And I feel like that’s a big part of just him incorporating that into his character and who he is, that will help him a lot just as a quarterback and as a leader. He has to be being so young. I feel like that’s big, and he’s coming along. He’s ready.

He has made the plays, the layups he needs to, and he threw a pick on Saturday, and that didn’t faze him. He came right back out. He had the tools he needed. He worked for this for his life, so he was ready to go.

Does his confidence or calm demeanor on the field, especially after throwing an interception, does that surprise you from a guy who’s 18, 19 years old in his first game?

I say it does, I don’t think a lot of young kids like that can have the mindset to forget about it and go to the next play.

I feel like that’s a big thing you need at this level, and to get to the next level, just keeping that next play mentality in competition.

It feels like you’ve taken a step up and kind of settled into your role so far. Is there anything different about this season than maybe last season?

I’d definitely just say helping my team work on the field.

Definitely last year, I was off the field a lot, so I’d say that’s different. Also, me and Jakolbe (Baldwin) being the only guys left from last year’s team, so just bonding with a new group of guys and getting together to work. And I just say it has helped me, because I know I have to be better for my guys, for them to be better, and also for them just to wanna compete as well.

I’m competing against them, but also they see me, I gotta compete with this guy. So that’s the type of mindset I try to have every day.

Going off that, there’s a lot of guys that haven’t played at Clemson in the wide receiver room. Have you described what it’s gonna be like to them at all, about going down there and playing?

Not really. Our coaches have, they talk a lot about the noise and the fans, but I’m used to it. I mean, when I’m playing, I’m locked in.

Coach, Doeren mentioned perimeter blocking being a real strength of this team. How do you take that on personally as a challenge?

I take that very, very prideful and very high. That’s something that we weren’t good at last year.

And I feel like that’s something we had to be good at this year for our teams to see within our system. And I say that’s something we worked on a lot this summer, just blocking and knowing where to be in certain blocks.

How are Wes (Grimes) and Noah (Rogers) doing, just kind of acclimating into the room, into the NC State as a whole?

Noah’s doing good, he’s one of our starters.

Just learning the offense more and just small details for him. I’ll say that’s the only thing. He’s a great player, great athleticism.

So he just has to hone in on small details and he’ll be good. Wes, I mean, Wes is there. Wes is a great player.

He’s a guy that’s just ready, he doesn’t have to step up. He’s already just ready to come in and help and do his job.

Being a leader in the Wide Receivers room

It’s big. College just flew fast for me.

So I just say timing for me, just trying to carry myself with a great demeanor. Whether that’s on the field or off the field. Going to school, going to class, going to tutoring.

Just doing those things, I feel like that shows them that, ‘okay, this is the right way, this is what I need to do. This is what I have to do if I want to get on the field.’ So I say that’s pretty big.

Going off of that, Keenan (Jackson) and Terrell (Anderson) have been able to play some as Freshmen. What have they shown you in practice and meeting rooms that you think has helped them be able to be instant contributors?

They just show me that they’re dedicated, they’re smart. They love it, they love what they do.

So I really don’t see a problem as to how fast they’re moving along. I feel like they’re doing well within our system and our offense. They’re big, fast, and they’re ready to play too.

So I feel like they’re gonna help us a lot.