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WATCH: NC State’s CJ Bailey Talks About Growth & Grayson McCall’s Impact (with transcript)

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NC State True Freshman Quarterback CJ Bailey met with the media yesterday after practice. He discussed his growth, the bye week, and the impact of Grayson McCall. You can watch the video ABOVE, and read the transcript below.

Is it pretty weird? You’re gonna have to start calling Grayson, Coach Grayson or something?

Yeah, I just asked him the other day if I was to play for you, would I call you Grayson or Coach? He said call him OG.

How big of a help has he been your whole time here?

Yeah, he’s been a great help. He’s been a great leader. I just try to mimic everything he’s doing. I’m just gonna watch him and observe him.

And he’s been in my ear and helping me out. And it’s really big that he came to all those games that he came to, because he helped out a lot.

He’s always been there for me.

What are those conversations like on the bench with him in a game, just when you come back from being out there?

Yeah, it’s never a tense conversation. We’re always excited with each other, always.

Even when things are not going as well, we always try to help each other out, help hype each other up, always hype me up. So it’s never a tense conversation. We always help each other.

As someone who’s, I imagine, has gotten really close to Grayson over the past few months, how difficult has it been just to watch what these past few weeks have been like for him?

Yeah, it’s really tough. Grayson had to work through that. It’s like, some people don’t know how hard that is.

In your career, in your last year, and coming to the games. Even though he ended his career, he ended it after Wake Forest, he’s still coming to the games, and still coming to practice. He’s coming to our meetings in the morning and still helping with the game plan, helping us out and everything.

So it’s really tough on him, and God’s willing to help him go wherever he wanna go in that time of life.

Obviously, you’re a true freshman, but how much did that put things into perspective for you as well?

Yeah, I’m a true freshman, but I don’t even want to call myself that no more because of Grayson. I feel like I’ve just been better because of him.

I just feel like I’m growing out of my title as a freshman because of him.

He talked about the fearlessness you need to play this sport and how you have to put everything aside. Obviously, that was a scary situation against Wake. As a team, how do you just put that aside and go out there and play fearless kind of football?

Yeah, it’s not easy, but we did it. We just had to say, ‘Let’s go play for him, instead of just harping on it and being sad over it. We just said, ‘Let’s go play for him and do it for Grayson.’

You’ve been able to watch Grayson study film, go through those meetings, practice, and play. What do you admire about him as a quarterback?

He never came in with a lousy energy, never came in tired, never came in sad, never came in confused. He always knew what he had to do.

He always had a plan of what he was going to do. He always was upbeat, energized, and was the loudest one in the building to keep everyone going as well as he was going.

What qualities about him do you think could make a good coach someday? What have you seen?

His voice, he has a good voice.

He always knew what to say in the right moments. He never has a blank mind. He’s really smart.

He’s a really good, smart guy.

You’ve thrown for 300 yards now in the last two games. How much progress do you think you’ve made from the time you had to first go out there to where you are right now?

Yeah, I’ve made a lot of progress since the first game. I feel like I’ve grown a lot. I’ve gotten better every week. I’m throwing for 300 yards, that’s fine, I just want to get the wins.

As far as the bye week is concerned, how much do you feel like you’ve been able to kind of reset but also grow from what you’ve been able to look back on now?

I’ve been resetting mentally and physically. So I just took that bye week as a time to take football off.

And now we just came back, locked back in on an assignment again this weekend. It’s helped a lot, that bye weekend. I feel like we will come out this weekend with some fire in our eyes.

Who was the coach when you were in either middle school or high school that made you believe you could be a good quarterback?

It started when I was little, when I was a kid, about 10, 11 years old. It was Coach Rod Mack, he played for the Hurricanes. But he was a real inspiring guy.

He always made sure that I knew that I could do it. Even though sometimes I thought I couldn’t, he was one of those guys that let me know that I can do it.

Having seen what Grayson’s gone through, do you plan on changing anything about your game or maybe wearing a guardian cap or something just to give yourself a better chance of protection?

Not really, I just think about playing smarter, getting down and getting out of bounds and stuff.

Don’t take as many hits. But anyway, I’m just playing fearless and still playing in my game. I don’t need no rib protector, I don’t need all of that.

Sometimes it’s good to wear it, but sometimes I feel like I don’t need it.

Can you explain why you wouldn’t, to a normal viewer or someone who doesn’t play football?

I’m just not used to that. My whole life, I rarely, I probably didn’t wear a rib protector until probably this year, but I always played fearless.

I always liked taking hits, it’s just not a problem with it. But that moment kind of shocked me a little. I need to have an awareness to get down and get out.

You’ve had a lot of high leverage throws recently where it just feels like it’s, I don’t want to say risky, but there’s big play potential with those throws. As a true freshman, it feels like you have to have a lot of confidence to be able to try and take those risks.

Yeah, that’s like I said, as each week goes on, I’ve gained a lot of confidence, and I gained a lot of trust in my guys, and I know they are going to make those plays, and I trust myself, and deliver a ball where they can catch it, because if I put it anywhere in that vicinity, they’re going to make a play for me.

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