2016 DE JaQuan Bailey Considering Tech Visit Despite Being "100 Percent Committed" to Florida

Rising senior defensive end JaQuan Bailey of Jacksonville's Raines HS insists to anyone who asks that his commitment to the Florida Gators remains as firm as it was the day he announced his decision back in March.

"I'm 100 percent committed to Florida," Bailey said. "I loved all the staff. Just meeting the coaches, seeing that they weren't afraid to be hard on me, it just made me feel like it was the best place for me."

But even these definitive proclamations aren't enough to discourage other coaches from trying to flip Bailey, and Tech defensive line coach Charley Wiles has been working to get in Bailey's good graces.

While Wiles has stayed in contact with Bailey for months now, he only extended an offer to the rising senior on May 18 as part of his recruiting swing through the Sunshine State.

"I got word from my head coach that Coach Wiles came to my school and offered," Bailey said. "I was excited, just because I like Virginia Tech and I personally like Coach Wiles. He's a good coach, and he plays his freshmen."

Just a few days later on March 21, Wiles swung by Raines' spring game to make his pitch to Bailey in person.

"He came by our spring game, about three hours before it started, just to check in with me," Bailey said. "He really wants me to visit and come to camp there on June 20."

But Wiles wasn't the only Hokie at Bailey's game doing a little recruiting that day. Sophomore receiver and Jacksonville native Isaiah Ford was also in attendance to try and sell Bailey on Blacksburg.

"Me and him got to talk that night after the game," Bailey said. "We used to play against each other, so it was cool. He mentioned how much he liked it there."

Whatever Wiles and Ford said that night, it seems to have been convincing. Bailey says he's currently sorting through his summer schedule for school visits, and the Hokies will likely make the cut on the late June date Wiles suggested.

"My parents and I are already talking about it, planning it out," Bailey said. "It would be a great to go there and meet the rest of the coaches. They wanted me to come up this spring and I never made it."

But before he makes that trip, Bailey says he'll also be making a return trip to Gainesville on June 6, with a second trip to Miami also in the cards sometime this summer.

"I definitely want to get back to the 'U' with some of my teammates," Bailey said.
It may indeed prove challenging for Wiles to entice Bailey to leave his home state, but it's hardly a surprise that he's willing to exert all this effort to try.

Bailey's rated a 3-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite ranking, but his roughly 6'4", 230-pound frame makes him the kind of prospect Wiles doesn't want to quit on.

"I'm just a playmaker," Bailey said. "I'm very fast coming off the edge."