CJ Bailey at the ACC Kickoff: “We Want to Win an ACC Championship”

NC State junior quarterback CJ Bailey met with the media Wednesday at the 2026 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, and one theme emerged throughout the session.

Championships.

Bailey discussed his growth as a quarterback, why he never considered leaving NC State, the leadership role he’s embraced, and why he believes the Wolfpack has the chemistry to compete for an ACC title.

You can read the full transcript below.

Q. I’ve had the pleasure of watching you grow as I’ve covered the ACC throughout your career. What do you feel has improved from your first year at NC State as you prepare to enter your next, what is it, third season coming into the Wolfpack?

CJ BAILEY: I a feel like a lot has improved since I first got into college, first season in college. I can honestly say like my first year I was winging it, I was just out there making plays, being an athlete. I really didn’t know much about the game, to be honest with you.

Going into that next off-season I learned a lot. It changed my whole perspective on everything about football, defense and everything like that. I learnt a lot. From now, everything is slow for me right now. Everything is moving fluent. Shoot, I got (indiscernible) with the whole offense, the whole team, and everybody believes in me. I’m just ready to make some plays for NC State.

Q. You just heard your coach talk about how he’s tired of finishing second place. What are you going to do as an individual and leader?

CJ BAILEY: You know what, what we need is an alpha leader. That’s what I am right now. That’s what I got to be for us to win more games. I have to be consistent every day, come in the building with the same mindset every day, which is I want to win an ACC championship. We want to win an ACC championship, pour into my guys every day, like I’ve been doing.

Taking that next step into my leadership, growing it even more. Every year, every day it’s got to grow even better for the program.

Q. When you look at going through your history, your journey, collegiately, quarterbacks have been jumping into the portal and finding other homes every other season. You’ve stayed committed to NC State? Why the Wolf Pack, one goal mentality?

CJ BAILEY: NC State is a different place. It’s a different place for me. It’s home for me.

Throughout my whole process of the recruiting or whatever the case may be, they were loyal to me. Coach Doeren was loyal to me. Coach Rupert, they poured into me. It’s only right I give it back to those guys.

Sometimes I often think, even though it was off-season, I was thinking like, Why would I go anywhere else to learn a new offense, build a new relationship with other people when I got a good home right now, right here? They going to prepare me for the next level.

I’m ready to win with those guys, so…

Q. You’ve kind of built your own little south Florida pipeline, childhood friends joining you at NC State. What has it been like having some old friends joining you on the team now? What does that do for the team now and what does that do for the team chemistry moving forward?

CJ BAILEY: Yeah, it’s very important because I grew up with those guys since seven, eight years old. Like that connection, that bond is very different.

Going into that spring practice that first day, it was like everything was clicking. We all was on the same page already, and it’s our first practice back together. That’s big. It’s going to help us put more points on the board, especially on the offensive side. It’s going to help just keep everybody with each other.

That brotherhood is big. We need each other, especially throughout this whole year. That’s the most important thing for us to win, go to the ACC championship, staying together through thick and thin. There’s going to be a lot of bumps in the road, ups and downs throughout the season. As long as we stay with each other, we going to be fine, we’ll be a hundred. It’s simple.

Q. You had arguably your best game against Georgia Tech. How were you able to dominate Georgia Tech the way you did? How big was that for you and the team?

CJ BAILEY: It was very important for the team. Like going into that game, we had a really good game plan. My coaches prepared us as perfect. We had a good game plan, especially on the offensive side. We just dominated the offense. We scored a lot of points, put a lot of points on the board.

Like I give a big shut out to coach Roper. His game plan was spot on. He knew what we wanted, we knew what we wanted, we just took advantage of it. We went after it.

Q. Obviously there’s been a lot of new faces that have been added. Have there been any guys that have emerged early on this off-season that you’re excited to play with?

CJ BAILEY: Yes, sir. I’m just going to speak on the whole team. Of course, Davion Dozier from App State, he’s been tremendous. If you watch this spring, he had a great spring. He going to make a lot of plays for us.

Chase Bond is coming along, he’s been really good for us on the defensive side.

Brian Nelson is stepping it up.

We got guys that’s not talked about enough. You’re going to see them play this year. They’re going to make a lot of plays for us and help us win.

Q. Coach talked about Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes championship team. What lessons have you learned from their tight-knit culture? What do you look to adopt in the NC State locker room?

CJ BAILEY: Like, with teams around, especially Carolina, like they locked in. Like they stay together. They stay together. That’s one of the things that we try to incorporate every day with our team, being together.

Like I said earlier, that brotherhood is very important. As long as we stay together, as long as we keep doing what we doing, we going to be great.