When Damon Cogdell tunes in to watch his alma mater, West Virginia, every Saturday, memories of the glory days come rushing back.

Rather than remembering his time playing linebacker for the Mountaineers, though, the Miramar (Fla.) High School head coach has visions of Geno Smith and Stedman Bailey lighting up the scoreboard for the MHS Patriots from 2007-08.

‘It’s always like déjà vu to watch them kids out there playing with each other again,’ Cogdell said. ‘It’s almost like living up the high school days. The only thing about it now is they’ve got national notoriety right now, and everybody knows about them.’

The nation already knew about Smith — who had established himself as a top quarterback in the Big East and a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy — coming into 2011. But Bailey, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver with just 24 career catches, was still an unknown in college football. Five games into the season for the Mountaineers (4-1, 0-0 Big East), Bailey has made a name for himself catching passes from his old high school quarterback.

Bailey has already surpassed his production from last season, hauling in 27 balls for 456 yards and three touchdowns. He is currently second on the team and in the Big East in receiving yards behind Tavon Austin, and he has had three straight games of more than 100 yards receiving. Bailey has become a consistent pass-catching threat in his second season as a starter and his first in new head coach Dana Holgorsen’s spread offense.

The foundation for Bailey’s success in making big plays at West Virginia began to form at Miami (Fla.) Carol City High School under head coach Walt Frazier.

Midway through his freshman year, Bailey moved from the junior varsity squad to varsity after a number of players suffered injuries. He had shown Frazier enough on JV and had the talent to handle the sudden jump.

‘He did a good job stepping up for the first time, and he played quite a bit,’ Frazier said. ‘It was just a matter of him adjusting to playing with bigger and older and more talented kids. He made the adjustment well.’

Having already made the adjustment to the varsity level as a freshman, Bailey came back as a sophomore and led the team in receiving, Frazier said. The head coach was particularly impressed by Bailey’s ability to pick up yards after the catch even though he hadn’t fully developed physically.

Frazier said Bailey kept to himself and wasn’t flashy. He was a ‘silent killer’ who did his job and let his play on the field do the talking.

So when the quiet sophomore made a grab on a crossing route and reversed direction in the same motion — leaving his defender standing flat-footed — the entire coaching staff and Carol City fan base realized he was a special player, as Bailey scampered 50 yards for a touchdown.

‘For him to make that kind of maneuver and move that he made in that particular play kind of opened a lot of people’s eyes about this kid, especially with him being a 10th grader,’ Frazier said.

But before the school year ended, Bailey transferred from Carol City to Miramar, where he would quickly form a bond with Smith.

Cogdell, the Miramar head coach, said the two were best friends on and off the field. They would go down to the field to run routes together on their own and were always together in school.

‘Where you saw Eugene (Geno Smith), you saw Stedman,’ Cogdell said. ‘So those two always stood together on and off the field, so they have a real good bond and communication with one another.’

The head coach still remembers the first game the pair played together at Miramar. Bailey and Smith connected for multiple touchdowns in a 48-20 rout of Monsignor Pace. It was the first batch of many touchdowns they would hook up during the course of two seasons with the Patriots.

It’s something Bailey said they have continued at West Virginia.

Bailey said Smith is confident enough to throw a ball up for him to make a play and that the quarterback trusts him in key situations. Even when Smith isn’t looking for Bailey, he still often finds him.

When plays break down, Smith knows where Bailey is on the field and uses that connection to escape trouble. Bailey said those situations have unfolded in almost every game this season.

‘Somehow, something where wherever the ball’s supposed to go isn’t open,’ Bailey said, ‘and he’ll somehow turn and get his head back around to where I am and hook up for a pass.’

Cogdell said it has been exciting for the Miramar community to follow Bailey and Smith as they make headlines at West Virginia. With each touchdown catch, they bring back memories of the 2007-08 seasons for the Patriots.

‘Touchdown after touchdown, catch after catch, like a lot of teachers next to me, we’re all laughing about saying, ‘Here we go again Miramar against XYZ,” Cogdell said.

Big East identifies targets for expansion after meeting on Sunday

The presidents of the remaining Big East schools met on Sunday in Washington, D.C., and gave conference commissioner John Marinatto permission to ‘aggressively pursue’ new members to replace Syracuse and Pittsburgh. According to The Boston Globe, the conference wants to expand to 10 football teams. The leading candidates for football are Southern Methodist, Central Florida, Navy and Temple, according to the report. Air Force, which was previously thought to be a top choice, is now only a ‘remote’ possibility.

rjgery@syr.edu

 

Published on October 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu