Deuce Bailey puts up big numbers in college season opener

Posted on September 7, 2026 12:34 PM

A quarterback with a strong Logan County athletics background was impressive in the season opener for his second college football team Saturday. Deuce Bailey threw for big numbers in Coastal Carolina’s near upset of West Virginia University.

Bailey is the son of one of the Logan County Cougars’ all-time greatest basketball players, Craig Bailey, whose last basketball game for the Cougars was an overtime loss in the 1993 regional championship game. Craig also played football for LCHS until injuring his arm in his junior season.

Deuce Bailey is one of the most successful athletes in Bowling Green High School’s tremendous sports history. In addition to the honors in football listed below, he was a highly honored basketball player who was one of the Purples’ best players on the 2025 state runner-up team.

Coming out of BGH in 2025, he chose to accept a football scholarship from Missouri State of Conference USA. The head coach there was Ryan Beard, a standout defensive player at both BGH and Western Kentucky University. Coach Beard, who spent part of his coaching career on the Hilltopper staff, said at the time that he had kept up with Deuce’s career and development ever since he was playing youth league ball.

This year, Beard, who is 37, has taken a new head coaching position at Coastal Carolina of the Sunbelt Conference. He brought his quarterback at the end of his Missouri State tenure, Deuce Bailey, with him.

Deuce, who is officially a redshirt freshman, rewarded his coach’s faith him by almost upsetting the Mountaineers of the University of West Virginia Saturday. WVU of the Big 12, held on for a win over the Chanticleers 31-24, Bailey completed 21 of 37 pass attempts for 373 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran the ball for 19 yards.

He was named Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Here’s the press release on that from the SBC office in New Orleans:

Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey has been named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.

Bailey is the first Chanticleer to earn Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week honors since Ethan Vasko received the award following the opening week of the 2024 season.

The Bowling Green, Ky., native earned the honor following a standout performance in Coastal Carolina's season opener at West Virginia on Saturday. Making his first start as a Chanticleer and just the second collegiate start of his career, the redshirt freshman completed 21-of-37 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

Bailey led the Sun Belt in passing yards and total offense (392 yards) in Week 1, while tying for the conference lead in touchdown passes.

His 373 passing yards matched the most by a Chanticleer quarterback since Coastal Carolina moved to the FBS level and tied for the fourth-most in a single game in program history.

The redshirt freshman also engineered a 12-play, 99-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter, marking the eighth 99-yard touchdown drive in Coastal Carolina history and the Chanticleers' first on the road since 2021.

After Coastal entered halftime trailing 24-0, Bailey threw all three of his touchdowns in the second half as the Chanticleers scored 24 points and pulled within one score with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. He connected with Clayton Coppock Jr. for touchdown passes of 34 and 37 yards and Colton Hinton for a 13-yard score.

Monday's recognition continues a unique start to Bailey's collegiate career. His only previous collegiate start came as a true freshman at Missouri State in 2025. Following that performance, he was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week on Oct. 8, 2025.

Bailey and the Chanticleers return to Conway for their 2026 home opener on Saturday, Sept. 12, against Fordham at Brooks Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

This is the Coastal Carolina roster description of Deuce Bailey for the media:

Deuce Bailey Football Honors

CUSA Freshman of the Week (10/8/25) at Missouri State

2025 (Freshman Year) - Missouri State

Completed 23-of-47 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 81 yards and a touchdown in three appearances
Played in three consecutive games from Sept. 20-Oct. 8, including his first career start at Middle Tennessee
Completed 16-of-31 passes for 278 yards and a passing touchdown while rushing for 17 yards and a touchdown in a victory at Middle Tennessee (10/8/25)
Earned CUSA Freshman of the Week honors following his performance against the Blue Raiders
Completed 7-of-16 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 61 yards on eight carries against WKU (9/27/25)
Made his collegiate debut against UT Martin (9/20/25)

High School

Led Bowling Green High School to back-to-back Kentucky Class 5A state championships in 2023 and 2024
Named Kentucky Class 5A Player of the Year and District Player of the Year in both 2023 and 2024
Completed 239-of-343 passes for 3,183 yards, 45 touchdowns and four interceptions as a senior
Added 423 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns during his senior season
Earned state championship game MVP honors for the second consecutive year after accounting for three touchdowns in the 2024 title game
Led Bowling Green to a 13-2 record as a senior
Passed for 3,517 yards and 43 touchdowns while adding eight rushing touchdowns as a junior
Earned state championship game MVP honors in 2023 after leading Bowling Green to a 28-14 victory over Cooper in the Class 5A state championship game
Passed for 3,136 yards and 34 touchdowns while rushing for 500 yards as a sophomore
Passed for 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman
Held FBS offers from Miami (Ohio) and several other programs