Defensive end JaQuan Bailey decided to head to Iowa State with his brother Joshua. JaQuan was considered by recruitnicks as a heavy Virginia Tech lean.
Raines twins Joshua and Jaquan Bailey headed to Iowa State. Little suspense there for onetime Florida commit— Justin Barney (@JustinBarneyTU) February 3, 2016
But wait...SURPRISE! JaQuan Bailey and Joshua Bailey are staying together at Iowa State! pic.twitter.com/HaXdtefpqH— In the Game Florida (@InTheGameMagFL) February 3, 2016
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well....crap.
Family matters. That could help them both succeed in the transition to college life. Good luck to them both.
I'm disappointed but I can't blame him.
Edit 2 seconds after posting: This is with /s
His choice to make, but I am very surprised. He was all VT on social media.
Iowa State, with new coach Campbell from Toledo, was really active in the last two months in recruiting.
not to mention former Emory & Henry OC Tom Manning.
The best hire of the year, in terms of what I expected the school to hire.
If I had a concern over Campbell, it was recruiting. But they seemed to have Iowa State everywhere the last few weeks. Impressive.
Did we offer Joshua? If not, no big surprise (at least to me).
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/169607
No, only one P5 school offered Iowa State.
I do not think we did.
I would pay for four years of school if it meant not having to live in Iowa. As my dad always says, "nothing free is ever truly free."
Iowa is actually a pretty cool state. The Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorph, across the river from Moline and Rock Island, IL) are all pretty cool.
Those winters, though...
Great for visits. Living there?
I live in Des Moines. If you have a family it's great. Cost of living is amazingly low, the schools are great, and I can golf at the country club every week. You?
Umm every week?
My wife is from Sioux City and went to UNI and Des Moines Medical school. I love visiting Iowa in the summer and spring, winter SUCKS!
Side not have you eaten at Manhatten Deli yet, if not you need to.
Well during the spring, summer and fall. But I can hit balls from the heated shed during the winter. Yes, I have eaten at Manhattan Deli. It is pretty good. Have you have had Big Tomato pizza? It's right down the street and is awesome. My in-laws live just south of DMU. I know a bunch of people that went there for med school. It's a good school.
I was born in Des Moines and my dad grew up on a farm outside of Audubon with its own giant bull which we paid a visit to this past summer. All this talk of Iowa is making me wish I could go back for another visit!
Having an Iowa Hawkeye wife (from the Des Moines area) I've been out there quite a bit, and I love Iowa. Not so much on the Iowa winters, but outside of those months, Iowa is spectacular. I haven't spent much time in Ames, but it is not very far from Des Moines (about a 30 min ride down I-35, as I recall). Ames seemed nice, didn't get into Iowa State area, though. Des Moines is a very nice city, roughly the same size as Richmond maybe slightly larger. Agreed w/IL Hokie about the other areas too. Quad Cities seems like a pretty nice place. Iowa City is very nice.
Iowa City is a very nice college town.
To each their own. I was born in Iowa, still have family there, and try to get back there as often as I can! It's a great state with a lot of good people in it.
We all have to make tough choices when it comes to family and schools. My older brother got an EE degree from Tech and is the reason why I love the Hokies. Tech was my dream school and I was accepted into the engineering program out of high school. Being the 3rd of 4 kids, those dreams were crushed when my parents didn't have the funds to make it happen without going into massive amounts of debt. So, off to VCU engineering I went as they offered me money and I lived at home to save even more money. I can't fault the kid for making a decision to help out his family regardless of location. Though, I'd like to think I wouldn't be giving people any false hope through the recruiting process. This kid also passed on Tennessee as well, so good on him for looking out for family and wish him all the best. I have some Cyclone alums in my family, so there are some people happy out there with this.
Wow. Colossal miss. That one hurts. We got completely trolled.
It's like fishing, one can't worry about the ones that got away.
Well, if you are a tournament fisherman, you sure do worry about the ones that got away. The rest of us shouldn't worry about them, but we don't forget them. They always seem to grow bigger and more important as time goes by, too. Oh well, one thing is a fact...it happens, you try to learn from what went wrong, then try to do better next time.
Playing with your brother has to be a dream come true. But man, did he toy with Virginia Tech. :/
haha you got me good Jaquan, but seriously when are you coming to Blacksburg.
hard to wish him good luck after all that trolling.....
This would hurt a whole lot less if it weren't for what he has been tweeting for the past week or two.
Who's to say he was trolling? Maybe he really loved VT and the new coaching staff, but in the end decided that playing with his brother was the best choice for him?
I hope he does well. These kids don't owe VT or ANY OF US anything.
Didn't he post as recently as yesterday? No one made him take pictures in hokie gear and post it for the world to see. It's trolling. I'm not lamenting his decision, but I'm calling it as I see it.
He posted a video of him and Wells in VT gear yesterday
I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had a last-minute change of heart. I've got twin daughters, and as much as I want them to do things on their own sometimes there is a bond there that not even I understand.
This is a real thing. I know twins, as well as people who lost their twin very early in life, and there's a connection there that never goes away.
Well, I hope they, as twins, suck at football and do "pretty ok" in other aspect of life.
I actually believe he wanted to go to VT even as late as yesterday. I don't think he had decided as of last night. In the end, he acquiesced to mom and bro. Blood runs strong and you gotta respect that.
He didn't look all that happy in the photos I saw of him this morning. I don't think ISU was HIS first choice......
They took that Iowa caucus to heart. I have to imagine if we offered his brother they would both be coming here. Oh well. As someone posted on the other thread there has to be something more than him trolling VT. It obviously is important for family and as stated in aforementioned post, if their mom can only afford to travel to one school or something like that it makes sense. Hate to lose him but what can you do.
I hate NSD.
No big deal!!! Good teams and coaches do not act like the sky is falling because they did not get one recruit from Florida. If they did they have no business coaching the Hokies. Press release "we are excited about the players we signed today, we missed out on a few we tried to get late, but in any event we have the players with the tools and character to win ACC championships and succeed on and off the field. " We are Hokie fans quit moping about players we didn't get. There are some Isiah Ford's, Cody Grimm's, Dadi Nicholas' in this next group.
You're only trolling if you don't have any leverage. The use of the word "trolling" makes no sense to me here.
And, brothers gotta stick together. We're cool.
Tough one to lose some guys to ISU. Better than them going to a future opponent though
Iowa State? Boy this is really a kick to the dick. I've been to Iowa State and can't imagine how anyone --regardless of relatives already on the team -- would say, "Ya know, Ames is just a better fit for me than Blacksburg."
And would you look at that!! He'll be playing with none other than VT-spurned, turned UGA-spurned blue chip Jacob Park at Iowa State. That's neat.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa-state/footbal...
Is it bad that I didn't even know he had a twin brother? I can't blame him for wanting to be with family and only one school apparently offered the brother.
This guy's is a bit of a loon but if what he says is true, that's a real bummer
I don't think Bailey ever gave anyone any kind of commitment. He may have had a strong lean but there was no commitment.
He didn't make a public commitment.
Commitment was made to Fuente and staff on Sunday and staff said they would stay quiet so he could announce on signing day.
Heard the same thing
How does this not screw with our scholarship numbers?
Just means we try to get more early enrollees for the 2017 cycle or we put some walk-ons on scholarship.
GO after more JUCOs and maybe a grad transfer
Nice #sauces on that "bailey commited to FUENTE" comment.
Bailey was rocking Virginia Tech gear less than hour before he signed with Iowa State. Something seemingly went bad for the Hokies in the last minute.
This is mind boggling.
Either that or he was pullin a fast one on anyone who was paying attention.
Very interesting. Hope to somehow find out what happened from behind the scenes.
Edit: This is not implying any wrongdoing. Just would like insight to the thought process and if the rumor that he "committed" on his OV are true.
Got a feeling he had some pressure from Mom & Dad to go to the same school as well... this might not have been a 100% football decision.
Bailey did an interview where he mentioned he didn't want it to be hard on his mom to have to go to two different schools for games. Of course he then cancelled his OV to Iowa State to go to VT..
That answers that. Mom wanted them together.
Disappointing in a way because it seems it wasn't what he wanted to do at heart. Feel like this is a decision where you should do what's best for you.
But why doesn't Fuente hold more sway over recruits than their own mothers!?!?!??!11!!one!!1
The lunatic fringe of the fanbase is absolutely burning down over this on twitter. They see it as an indictment of the entire program for keeping "dead weight recruiters" on the staff.
I will never forget the dude who was trying desperately to get Whit fired after he hired Fuente (he might still be, haven't seen his name on my timeline in a while.)
Better than if he'd gone to Tennessee.
That is what I expected
I can't blame the kid for sticking with family. I believe he really like Virginia Tech and wanted to come here, but family is more important than anything. If momma and brother want you to stick together, then I fully respect his decision.
It would have hurt more if he stayed with Florida or went somewhere else. At least this decision makes sense. If he's good enough, he'll make it to the NFL no matter where he goes. Best of luck to him and his brother.
The only thing I wonder is if Fuente was just as surprised as everyone else when the announcement came. If he did actually commit to us on Sunday, which is becoming the consensus above, then surely he would have let CJF know that his mother and brother were family and had swayed his decision.
Apparently Iowa State was just as surprised
That's something that most of us will probably never know. I'd like to give the kid the benefit of the doubt and hope that he was respectful to Fuente with his decision.
However, I believe this kid was a late round addition to our target list. I could be wrong but I don't believe we were holding a special spot in our offer list for him that would've gone to someone else. Now, if we missed out on 2 people because we thought he was committing and didn't recruit someone else, that would have come to VT, then that's obviously a low blow and I would lose a little bit of respect for his decision. But I don't believe that was the case.
If he was that important to us, then I would have offered his brother too. I know Beamer & Co. has done that in the past with recruits' teammates/brothers. But Fuente might not believe in doing that or his brother just was not that good to even warrant using another scholarship. I would think they at least mentioned a grey shirt or preferred walk-on spot for his brother.
But didn't he know his mother wanted him to go to Iowa State when he was pictured in VT gear an hour before the announcement?
Maybe Momma Bailey had a heart-to-heart with him this morning.
I completely understand why everyone is upset about this. We thought he was a lock and every action he has made up until this morning only supported that fact. But to be honest, this case of "missing a recruit" is a lot easier to swallow than others we've had in the past.
Am I happy he's going to Iowa State? Absolutely not. But at least I can understand this decision instead of one that doesn't make sense (i.e. a defensive recruit picking UNC over VT because of UNC's "defense" and "academics")
As much as it galls me, I'm going to take a breath and surmise that a Bailey family meeting decided this late. I'm in the "best for my family" camp.
I refuse to believe that a kid treated as well as we have treated Bailey would actively, elaborately embarrass us. The idea that this was a long con is ludicrous. Just not gonna pin that on a kid who clearly has external factors to consider.
That family meeting must have happened right before he sat down at the signing table this morning. He apparently had a VT jacket on right before the signing. I'm not saying it wasn't a family decision, but wearing the jacket there this morning and then changing at the last minute sure seems like trolling.
So you think that, on the biggest day of this kid's LIFE thus far, his focus was
"Let's stick it to Virginia Tech."
Not me. The most I'm willing to concede is that he used some VT gear to make the announcement more of a surprise.
(& if that's the case? JaQuan, HOW ABOUT A PLAIN BLACK HOODIE BRUH)
No, I'm not saying that at all. I don't think anything was intentionally malicious, but I definitely think he used VT as a way to generate more intrigue in his decision. I don't think he really loved VT but was suddenly swayed this morning by a talk with his family. I think he liked VT but knew he wanted to play with his brother and it was important to his family. If he did make a silent commit to Fuente and turn on that this morning, shame on us for not doing our homework a bit better.
Yep. And, in some ways, it's a beautiful thing: it came down to family. "Love you CJF, but it's my Mother. It's my twin brother." If we knew that was his platform, then we wasted time and money.
The only thing I disagree with you on is your definition of "trolling". I think trolling IS intentionally malicious. Which is why I don't call this trolling...
Concerning the "trolling" - Again, I don't think he maliciously intended to stick it to VT. But he did lay it on a little thick on social media leading up to today, and a lot are going to interpret that as trolling. If he simply wanted to add a little intrigue to the decision, he should have just said something to the effect of, "Great visit at VT, really like Coach Fuente, have a tough decision ahead of me, will decide between VT, ISU, etc etc Wednesday." Instead, he repeatedly posts pictures of him with the coaches saying "family, future coach, etc" and video of him in all VT gear chanting "VT, VT" with Wells. I think that was a little much, and he could have handled that a little more respectfully to the VT coaches if he truly was following his brother and the coaches thought he was coming here. Just my opinion.
I think VT was his first choice, but after acquiescing to family (which I totally respect), the VT jacket might have been his last bit of independence in the matter......
Lots of folks said he was a silent commit to Fuente. This surprised me. Ross, Fox, Pine et al not a total shock.
So Joe, French others in the know answer me this please. Can Tech go offer other kids today? Is there a time limit on offers going out? Find a kid who got spurned by his top choice and offer him? It happens for medical residencies why not for football?
Signing period goes until April. I saw some high profile guys decommitted today and extended their recruitment
I know signing period goes but is there a time frame to send out official scholarships?
In response to above, I definitely do not consider myself on the "lunatic fringe," but I was more than slightly surprised that Wiles was retained with the new Staff.
Wiles may be a perfectly nice guy, but his recruiting success (or lack thereof) essentially speaks for itself. Tim Settle was recruited by Gray and Foster, btw.
The miss here was not in having Bailey sign elsewhere but having spent so much time with the kid and (apparently) being unaware that it was so important to him and family to play with his Brother. We recruited this kid like he was a high-4* with at least 2 in-homes. At some point the question of "Do you want to play with your Brother?" should have been asked.
If we did not want to offer both, that is fine and we should have backed off of Jaquan rather than continuing to expend resources on him. To have him commit somewhere else this late and be so caught off-guard by it is just too reminiscent of prior NSD and not doing your homework
Feel like a broken record here: No P5 program except Iowa State offered the brother. Using a scholarship on a guy to mostly sit on the sidelines is not a great plan.
We have done it ourselves, although generally to try to land a QB.
Tariq and Tyrell Edwards may have fallen under a similar category. Their father played here as well.
Perfect example. I had forgotten.
Yea didn't work out so well with Asnate
Exactly. Joe Wilson worked out slightly better (Michael Vick)
Right, but what the OP is asking is why we continued to heavily pursue Jaquan and exhaust resources on him if we knew he would only go to a school that also offered his brother. We either knew and thought we could get him anyway, or we should have known.
Cause we didn't know. He did some interviews initially where he said it wasn't a requirement, I mean he did cancel his OV to Iowa to come to VT
It's not a terrible plan, though.
Right but that doesn't really address the point FLA is trying to make.
If what you're saying is true (and it is), why did we recruit him so hard if we knew 1) he/his fam wanted the twins to stick together, but 2) we had no bid for his brother? By that reasoning, either the Baileys didn't make that desire clear, or the staff ignored it.
I'm completely fine with not burning two schollys on one player - but the "who knew what when" aspect re his brother is valid re recruiting. Any of us who follow recruiting knew he had a twin that he wanted to play with - so given that info...
EDIT: VTJ12 beat me to it. With clarity and relative brevity.
Didn't say we should have offered him, but we should have done more digging. We know the guy has a Twin Brother with an offer to ISU---you have to consider that and try to determine how important it is for them to play together.
If it is a big deal (which obviously it was) then you have to consider either offering both or backing off both. We made TWO in-homes---sit down with the mother and ask her.
The larger and more over-arching problem here is the inability of the D-staff (Gray excluded) to sell recruits. Having only one DE in an entire class seems totally inexcusable, especially given our lack of depth at the position.
Wiles is a big reason why we have such an impact in Florida. Most of the Del Ray Beach recruits we've gotten over the years was because of Wiles' relationship with the coaches down there. We wouldn't have had Clowney, Flowers, Hosley, Leal, Dadi, or Maddy without Wiles.
Gray has also heavily developed that pipeline. Hosley was a Gray recruit, I'm almost sure of. Dadi and Maddy both turned into very good players but they (esp. Maddy) were largely last-minute pickups for other guys that we missed on.
Again, please direct me to any 4-star DE we have signed in the last 5-7 years. They just don't exist. The highly-rated guys in-state pass us over like we don't exist. In a landscape where most SEC teams are going 7-8 deep on the DL; we simply can't compete if we can't recruit impact DE.
I'm not gonna let today's developments spiral me into Lunaticville, but the sentiment expressed in that second paragraph gains a little more traction with every 'crootin cycle.
But almost everyone thinks that we're missing out on highly ranked DE recruits because of Bud Foster's scheme, not because Wiles can't recruit. Beamer & Co. recruited by region and rarely by position coach. So to put the blame on Wiles for not getting highly ranked D-Line recruits, especially the VA recruits, isn't fair to Wiles.
You claimed to be surprised that Wiles was retained on staff because you feel his recruiting is inadequate:
1. Wiles is essential to our Florida recruiting with the relationships he has there.
2. Valuing recruiting ability, more than coaching ability, would field talented teams with poor results. (i.e. teams like USC, Georgia, and Miami for the past 10 years.).
Long story short: Even though he's the D-line coach, Wiles is the wrong place to point the blame for our missing on highly rated D-line recruits. At least during the Beamer era.
Fuente did say today he wants the position coaches much more involved
Agreed though. Always felt that we never got the premier edge rusher on NSD. VA produces a lot too.
And the main reason Ken ended up at Virginia Tech was that after he tore his ACL, Notre Dame stopped pursuing him. Even this devil's advocate response doesn't hold up so well. Hope it improves soon.
Ekanhem, Mihota(247), Hill (247), Teller (moved to OL), Jaronty Jones (left the program), Corey Marshall (rated as a DE moved to DT), Zach McCray( sidelined by injuries)
More than you would think
Slightly OT, but I noticed from both the video and the picture that Bailey had 2 VT jackets. I don't believe that the school is allowed to give them to him which means he bought them. Bought of those jackets are close to $100 each.
If I'm not committing to a school, I might get a t-shirt or shorts as a souvenir like Wells did, but I'm not buying expensive jackets. I think Bailey wanted to go to VT especially during his visit, but after talking with his family decided to go to ISU.
We will probably never know exactly what the thought process was, but if this is the case, I can't see how his parents were okay with his decision to go to VT until suddenly the last minute before signing this morning. He seemed all about VT leading up to today, which would imply that his parents were also supportive of that decision (obviously with all the VT swag as you mention). What suddenly changed to make his parents not onboard with VT right before signing, if we are operating under this theory?
Just an insanely frustrating situation all around. But it's best to just move on.
His parents might not have been happy the whole time. A few years ago a kid picked LSU and his mom wore her Bama gear and said I'm not happy. Another kids parent refused to sign the paperwork.
If you're referencing Landon Collins, it was actually the other way around. He picked Bama at the UA All American game and she sat behind him with a straight face, and her comment was "Geaux Tigers"
I am and thanks for correcting my memory. Leg
If my son wanted to play football at UVA, I would respect his decision and support him in every way, but I'd sure as hell be sporting head-to-toe VT gear at the announcement and every single one of his games.
I honestly think that Momma Bailey had the final say and put her foot down at the last minute. All of these NLI have to be signed by the parent too.
If that's the case, we should be more upset with Momma Bailey for not informing the coaches that she wants her sons to play together and that would be her deciding factor.
VT = the popular hot chick that the parents don't approve of
Iowa St. = the nice girl next door whose parents go to church with your parents. (and happens to have a sister for your brother).
It's kind of hard to send your NLI if your parents are unwilling to sign it.
Soo....?
He's not allowed to say anything else. Really. He can't comment on recruits that are not committed to VT and I think he's also not allowed to comment on any aspect of recruiting prospects who went to other schools. This just goes hand in hand with the requirement to express nothing but unbridled excitement about the incoming class.
Thanks for the info!
Yea, that seems a Facebook "non-entry"...
dropps mic
It almost seems like a surprise to his brother.
Looks like quite literally everyone was surprised by that.
I'm happy for the kid. Up until the moment he announced, Virginia Tech expected him to sign with the Hokies, so it's a negative for Tech's program. However, he made his mom, family and twin brother very happy (perhaps a selfless decision), and I can't hold it against him.
Yeah, if that's not a "Surprise! Mom, I love you" move, I don't know what is. Kind of great actually
Agree 100%, and hopefully there aren't any 2017 recruits watching Tech fans melt down on the Internet...
I'm disappointed we missed out on a great prospect. I can't fault him for taking Michael Corleone's advice. Never take sides against the family.
This does not detail the Fuente train. If things like this happen in the 2017 and 2018 (especially) cycle, I'll start to wring my hands. This doesn't even give me indigestion.
Fuente's first order of business is clear: win with the roster he inherits. As it stands, we addressed one of our biggest needs at WR, and shored up LB a bit with some bodies, if not immediate contributors. But CJF is going to have to win with what he's got before he climbs the 'crootin ladder.
Little disappointed, but can't blame him on the reasoning. Good luck to him in the BigXII. Just seems like this sort of thing always happens to us on signing day.