Cyclones land both Bailey bros.
The opportunity to play together at a Power-5 school was too great to pass up for a pair of twin three-star defenders from a Jacksonville (Fla.) program that has already produced one Cyclone player. Iowa State’s 2016 class got a huge boost Wednesday morning when JaQuan Bailey and Joshua Bailey chose to join Matt Campbell’s staff in Ames.
News of the pair’s commitment hit social media like a storm with pictures of pictures of the Bailey twins wearing Iowa State hats at a signing day ceremony. Various news outlets in Florida reported the commitments.
JaQuan Bailey took his official visit to Iowa State back on January 24th, but was on campus for only one day as it was a Monday trip. The 6-foot-3, 235-pound defensive end took in the Big Monday basketball game between Iowa State and Kansas.
Following an in-home visit later that week, JaQuan proclaimed that he’d likely be a Cyclone.
“There’s a high possibility that I’ll commit and sign with Iowa State,” he said at the time. “Things went great (on my in-home). My wholfe family was here and we welcomed the coaching staff in here and the defensive coordinator and my position coach (Eli) Rasheed. We had a great night together and had great vibes. It was just a fun, lovely night.”
But JaQuan’s timeline kept getting pushed back. He had originally planned to announce last Saturday, while his brother Joshua was on a visit to Iowa State. However, that didn’t happen as he was able to squeeze in a final weekend official visit to Virginia Tech.
The feel on social media was that he would end up at Virginia Tech, a school that had not extended Joshua an offer.
In addition to Tennessee and Virginia Tech, JaQuan also had offeres from the likes of Florida, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
The fact that the Hokies and other finalist Tennessee had not offered Joshua had complicated things for JaQuan, who said the two were a “package deal” in a story Cyclone Report published last week.
In the end, the only Power-5 offer that lined up for both recruits was Iowa State’s. Joshua Bailey, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive tackle had FBS offers from Appalachian State, South Florida, Temple and UCF.
JaQuan Bailey will ultimately play a rush end position on the defensive line, although he had indicated he could complete right away at the “Leo” spot in I-State’s new defensive alignment. Joshua Bailey will play on the interior line as a three-technique.