The Miami Hurricanes are mourning the loss of one of their own after multiple reports confirmed former star Allen Bailey died on Wednesday at 37. TMZ reported Bailey is believed to have died of natural causes.
Bailey’s path to Miami was unusual from the start. He grew up on Sapelo, an island off the coast of Georgia, and didn’t begin playing football until high school.
Even so, he became a heavily recruited prospect, with college coaches sometimes having to fly straight to the island or catch a ferry just to meet with him. Bailey ultimately picked the Hurricanes over several top programs.
Once he got to UM, he turned into one of the program’s most physically gifted players. He was at Miami from 2007 through 2010 and left with 103 tackles, including 31 for losses, and 12 sacks in 50 games. Despite a teddy-bear attitude off the field, he was widely viewed as one of the most intimidating figures in school history because of his freakish athletic ability.
Bailey’s NFL career followed his college run. The Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft, and he spent nine seasons in Kansas City before wrapping up his career with one year in Atlanta. Over 10 professional seasons, he finished with 248 tackles, 22 sacks and four forced fumbles.
News of Bailey’s death first surfaced Tuesday night, though some initially believed it was a hoax.
The Hurricanes’ football program is now dealing with that loss, even as another Miami team is gaining national attention. For the first time since the 2023-24 college basketball season, Miami is in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll, landing at No. 14 with 650 votes.
The Hurricanes are the fourth ACC team in the poll, behind No. 2 Duke, No.
9 Virginia and No. 11 Louisville.
After a historic 26-9 turnaround season, second-year coach Jai Lucas is trying to push the program even further. He reshaped the roster with eight transfers, two freshmen, an international signee and three returners.
A big part of the summer win for Miami was keeping sophomores Dante Allen and Shelton Henderson. Both played key roles as freshmen and are back in Coral Gables with bigger jobs ahead. Henderson, in particular, is being mentioned as a breakout candidate after averaging 13.8 points on 56.7 percent shooting, along with 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 35 games, all starts.
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