NC State quarterback CJ Bailey is already drawing serious attention heading into 2026, and the ACC’s preseason voting backed that up.
Bailey placed fourth in the conference’s preseason Player of the Year race, landing behind Miami quarterback Darian Mensah, SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings and Louisville running back Isaac Brown. The vote was cast by 188 ACC media members as part of the league’s annual preseason poll.
Mensah led the way with 97 votes, followed by Jennings with 25, Brown with 16 and Bailey with 15. Florida State wide receiver Duce Robinson came next with 12, while Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown had 11. Virginia linebacker Kam Robinson received five votes, Clemson defensive end Will Heldt got four and Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel finished with three.
Bailey’s spot in that race makes sense after what he did in 2025. The sophomore put together a huge season, completing 68.8% of his passes for 3,105 yards and 25 touchdowns while throwing nine interceptions. He also posted a 150.7 passer efficiency rating, the third-best single-season mark in NC State history.
That kind of production has already pushed Bailey deep into the Wolfpack record book. Through two seasons, he has thrown for 5,518 yards, which ranks eighth in school history.
He’s also eighth with 469 completions, second with 7.89 yards per attempt and sixth with six 300-yard passing games. His 147.8 career passer efficiency rating is the best in NC State football history.
Bailey still has at least two seasons of eligibility remaining, though likely only one, which gives him a real shot to keep climbing those lists before his time in Raleigh is done.
NC State has had only six ACC Player of the Year winners, and Philip Rivers was the last one in 2003. Mensah may be the favorite right now, but Bailey has put himself squarely in the mix with the conference’s best. If he keeps trending upward and NC State turns in a big season with an easy schedule, he could put the Wolfpack back on top of the ACC award board for the first time since Rivers.
In Other News...
NC States Biggest Roster Question Just Got More Complicated
A federal court ruling out of Colorado has added another layer of uncertainty to roster planning across college basketball, including at NC State. Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that requires the NCAA to declare eligible all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted four seasons of eligibility this spring, a decision that could ripple through depth charts and the transfer market as teams try to sort out what it means for their own personnel.
For the Wolfpack, the most immediate challenge is not just identifying who becomes available, but figuring out how that affects roster math, transfer priorities and the frontcourt balance they are trying to build. The injunction leaves key details unresolved, including how it applies to transfer rules, restitution and roster limits, which means programs may have to keep adjusting as more clarity comes in from the NCAA and the courts. [Read more 🡒]