7th grade and baseball helped quarterback Tanner Bailey become a South Carolina football signee

GORDO – Tanner Bailey was 13 years old when he got his first taste of varsity sports. As just a seventh grader, he played DH for Gordo's state championship baseball team.

Bailey was benched after he struggled but ultimately found success against future MLB Draft picks, some throwing 90 miles per hour.

"It molded me a lot into the player I am today, the mentality I have," the four-star recruit said after during the quarterback's signing day ceremony with South Carolina on Thursday. "I'm really thankful for coach Pate in the confidence it gave me."

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Bailey used that same seventh grade mental toughness when former Oregon coach Mario Cristobal left for Miami in December and the life he envisioned at the program he was committed to for eight months was no more.

Bailey decommitted soon after.

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Bailey described the week as worrisome and stressful — he planned to enroll early at Oregon. Luckily for Bailey, he knew the same day South Carolina was his likely destination because it was after him as hard as Oregon before he choose the Ducks in March 2021. The Gamecocks didn't treat him differently afterwards, Bailey said.

He did his due diligence, though, taking a visit to Indiana and talking to other programs, including USC coach Lincoln Riley. He signed during the early signing period last in December and will enroll in June after his baseball season.

Bailey is South Carolina's highest-ranked signee at No. 220 in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite.

"(Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach) Marcus Satterfield was telling me I was the No. 1 quarterback they wanted," Bailey said. "It's really important when you're recruited because you want to know where you're wanted and where you'll fit in.

"They checked all the boxes. Probably right place, wrong time. ... As the days went by, I knew this is where I want to play, especially with Coach (Shane) Beamer, who's got that program hot, on the rise. It'll be fun to get down there and learn from those guys and compete."

Bailey will likely be behind Oklahoma transfer Spencer Rattler, who was tabbed a Heisman Trophy contender to start the 2021 season before struggling and being supplanted as a starter.

South Carolina finished 7-6 with a bowl victory over North Carolina to the surprise of many. It took another quarterback in the 2022 class, early enrollee Braden Davis.

"This will probably be my developmental year," Bailey said. "... Obviously I'll be ready to play at any point. I'll try to learn the offense and get as big as I can really quick. I imagine (Spencer will) be the starter this year. I'll be able to learn from him, watch him, listen to him. He's been in the spotlight, he's struggled. It'll be awesome to hear his side of some things."

Bailey went on an unofficial visit to South Carolina after Christmas and is taking an official visit Friday, when he'll meet Beamer for the first time. He's already met Satterfield.

Bailey said signing to a school before physically meeting the coach wasn't a tough decision. Bailey committed to Oregon before the COVID-19 dead period ended.

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"Nowadays with COVID it's not as rare," Bailey said. "Everybody has great facilities. South Carolina has some of the best in the country. ... I think the main thing nowadays is the relationships with coaches, and you can figure out pretty quick if you step back and look at it from a business standpoint of how coaches are.

"I asked around, and everybody said the same thing: they're great guys, they're going to play great football and they're going to get the best players."

And now he's part of it thanks to what he learned in seventh grade.

Contact Jerell Rushin at 205-600-4015 or jrushin@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerellRushin_.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Football recruiting: South Carolina signee Tanner Bailey's success started in 7th grade