When he isn’t playing football for Fordham Prep, David Bailey is usually playing football video games.
“My favorite is NFL 2K1,” said Bailey. “I just bought it and I can’t get away from it. I’m up until 2 o’clock every night.”
The senior split end uses the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with their versatile running back, Warrick Dunn.
“I love that guy,” Bailey said. “I’m averaging over 400 yards a game with him. Nobody can stop me.”
That’s quickly becoming true on the real football field, as well. In the Rams’ first game of the season, an overtime loss to Iona Prep, Bailey was limited to just two catches. Fordham Prep head coach Pete Gorynski knew that wasn’t enough.
“He’s one of the main reasons we run the offense we’re running,” said Gorynski, who has installed a more pass-friendly attack. “I saw him return a kickoff for a touchdown when he was a sophomore and I knew he was going to be a special player. But he’s been better than I thought he would be. He’s one of those rare players that can score literally any time he touches the ball, so I knew he didn’t get it enough in that game.”
He made sure that didn’t happen again. Although teams almost never kick the ball in his direction anymore, Bailey touched the ball plenty last week. He caught 10 passes for 129 yards in Fordham Prep’s 34-28 victory over Stepinac on Saturday. The White Plains resident also scored on a 79-yard reverse for the 1-1 Rams. That’s more production than some receivers get all year, but Bailey isn’t satisfied.
“I had a good game, but I hope to do more than that,” Bailey said. “I’d like to get 11 or 12 catches every time.”
That would suit quarterback Matt Rinklin just fine.
“He’s the best receiver I’ve ever played with,” Rinklin said. “We’ve had a chemistry since we started playing together at JV sophomore year. Whenever we need a big play, we just look at each other in the huddle and we know that we’re going to come through.”
Despite his speed – he hasn’t been clocked in the 40-yard dash for fear that he might pull his hamstring – Bailey isn’t being recruited as much as Gorynski thinks he should be.
“I firmly believe that he could do well at a Division I program,” Gorynski said. “It’s just a matter of somebody getting past his size and hopefully he will get a little bit bigger.”
Right now, Gorynski generously lists Bailey at 5-foot-10, 170 pounds.
“The ability to play as well as he does should translate into a scholarship,” Gorynski said. “He’s fast, he’s elusive and he’s got a knack for scoring. But there are a lot of 6-foot-2, 190-pound guys out there who can do the same thing, so David is at a disadvantage.”
In the CHSFL, however, he fits in just fine. Bailey, of course, would love to play in college, but that’s as far as he would like to go.
“I don’t like the NFL,” Bailey said. “They play for all the wrong reasons. They all play for money. They don’t have the passion for the game anymore. I would hate that. You have to love the game to play it.”
And he’s made the game more fun for those around him.
“He’s my go-to guy,” Rinklin said. “I’ve gotten used to seeing him in the end zone a lot.”
So have opponents.
