Jeremiah Smith was a prime transfer portal target. Miami reportedly offered Smith $10 million to transfer to Coral Gables. Even though he outright rejected the offer, there was another ACC school that tried to do the same with him by using their star quarterback. Instead of $10 million, they tried to pull him in with the power of friendship, leaving his high school quarterback heartbroken.

At the 2026 ACC media day, NC State’s standout QB CJ Bailey was asked about the process behind his insane success in recruiting old friends JoJo Trader and Davion “Bullet” Gause from Chaminade-Madonna back through their transfer portal.

“They knew they wanted to get out from their other schools, but they also knew who they grew up with; who their quarterback was. And I’m actually doing well for myself here right now,” Bailey said. “But I wanted them. I reached out to Chance, I reached out to JoJo, and I reached out to Bullet. They were kind of on the same page, like, ‘I want to go play with you.’ And, you know, that’s what it was. That’s what happened, and we’re gonna turn it up this year for sure.”

When the media asked Bailey about the recruitment of Smith, CJ Bailey put his head down with a laugh. “I’m not gonna tell you,” he said. He simply added, “[Smith] hurt my feelings. He hurt my feelings” for rejecting the Wolfpack.

Bailey, JoJo Trader, and Jeremiah Smith were actually the “Big Three” of a legendary high school offense at Chaminade-Madonna in Florida back in 2023. They won back-to-back FHSAA state titles in 2022 and 2023, with Bailey throwing tons of touchdowns to both receivers.

After graduation, the three friends went their separate ways to college. Bailey signed with NC State, JoJo Trader chose the Miami Hurricanes, and Jeremiah Smith went north to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

After two years of playing for their committed programs, naturally, when the transfer portal opened up, Bailey got two of his old high school band back together in Raleigh.

He successfully convinced JoJo Trader to transfer from Miami and got running back Davion Gause to jump over from UNC. Unfortunately for NC State fans, Smith shut the idea down pretty quickly. Leaving a national championship contender like Ohio State just wasn’t in the cards for him, no matter how close he is with his old quarterback.

Bailey remains confident about his roster despite missing Smith. The Wolfpack offense is still going to look very dangerous with the South Florida chemistry they managed to bring in. Fans will see Bailey, Gause, and Trader on the field together when NC State kicks off the 2026 season against Virginia on August 29.