Chad Bailey Broke A School Record But A State Championship Is The Real Prize

Chad Bailey broke Ridge Point High School’s career tackles record (187 tackles) with a few weeks left in the regular season but now he and the undefeated Ridge Point Panthers (10-0, 7-0 District) are looking to get the job done this year.

They were close to winning the UIL Class 5A Division II state championship in 2015, making the final four. They lost to 2015 state champion Cedar Park High School 38-17. The Panthers finished that year 11-4 (6-1 District).

“Yeah, it’s pretty good. We’ve got a chip on our shoulder this year because last year we started off pretty bad and we weren’t even projected to make it past the second round. Making it to the fourth round was a good thing. Now that we lost, I’m ready to win state this year,” Bailey said on the team’s chances to win a state title.

The Ridge Point Panthers / Missouri City, Texas, will play their first playoff game against the Morton Ranch Mavericks / Katy, Texas (5-5, 4-3 District), on Thursday, Nov. 10.

As far as how Chad Bailey finished that season, he recorded 120 tackles (86 solo), 19 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four fumbles, and one fumble recovery.

His start in football began as a result of his father trying to toughen him up and he started playing football at the age of seven or eight.

Bailey is the youngest of five children (three brothers and one sister) and his motivation for playing is his mom.

“It’s probably my mom. You know, she works hard to make sure that I’m good. I’m the youngest and most of my siblings are already out and working and stuff so it’s just me and her at home. She’s a hard worker and I want to make sure that I help her out once I make it to the NFL.”

The Missouri City, Texas native loves the area and the fact that his neighborhood is filled with people who play sports so he made friends easily.

According to the 247Sports Composite, Chad Bailey is a four star 2018 recruit, the sixth-best inside linebacker and 32^nd best player in Texas.  He has received three scholarships from Indiana, Southern Methodist University and University of Texas San Antonio.

“I don’t have high interest in any schools right now. I’m just waiting it out to see who is going to offer me and once the time comes where I need to make the decision, then, I’ll start saying who’s at the top or what’s my top five and stuff like that.”

At the end of the 2016 regular season, he recorded 77 tackles (53 solo), four sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles. See his junior highlights here.

At the college level, Bailey believes he can be a leader for a college program.

“I feel I can play the captain role of the defense, always hyping the team up and stuff like that but off the field I’ll make sure that everybody’s at workouts and just fit into the team.”

He admires Lawrence Taylor for his ability to get inside the opponents head before and during games.

“…He’ll talk trash to them and stuff so that already gets the opponent a little bit intimidated and then when you started popping them in the mouth it’s even easier.”

Bailey likes rushing the passer the most and he is quite good at it. He likes to be able to experiment using different moves on an offensive lineman and said that the best part of his game is his first step. He sometimes tries to time a team’s snap count in order to get a good first step off of the line of scrimmage.

“…Once I get that down pact then it’s on,” he said.

He needs to work on his footwork and pass coverage, he said, because he doesn’t break down in pursuit of a running back and he may get beat by a step or two.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m the heart and soul of the defense but we all work together as one unit so we all listen to each other and we all ball out as one team.”

The Ridge Point Panthers are going to have to ball out as a team if they don’t want their undefeated season and chance to win a state title to go to waste.

UPDATE: 12/10/2016

Chad Bailey and the Ridge Point Panthers finished the 2016 season 11-1 (7-0 District). They were ousted from the 2016 UIL Conference 6A Division I Texas state playoffs by Lamar High School / Houston, Texas, in a close one, 24-21.

Bailey finished 2016 recording 99 tackles (72 solo), 20 tackles for loss, five sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions.

He now has a total of five scholarship offers as he picked up offers from Ole Miss (Nov 11) and Missouri (Dec 8)

With one more season at Ridge Point left to play for Chad Bailey, here are his career numbers so far: 219 tackles (158 solo), 39 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, six fumble recoveries, five pass breakups, four forced fumbles, and two interceptions.