Newcomer Profile: Dominic Bailey
The longer he is in charge at the University of Tennessee, the more Jeremy Pruitt puts his fingerprints on this program with his recruits. Unlike some past regimes where players were recruited primarily for their rankings, Pruitt has systems in mind, and he recruits players that fit those systems as a priority. No area has Pruitt focused harder than on the lines of scrimmage, where in nearly two full recruiting cycles and desperate effort to complete a class in his first year, he has remade the Volunteers’ identity into what he wants up front. Pruitt was able to use all the avenues open to him to move the Tennessee defensive line from a 4-3 unit into a legitimate 3-4 front thanks to traditional high school recruits, JUCO signees, and the transfer portal. Now he looks to add long term pieces to that front. One of the biggest in the 2020 cycle is four-star defensive tackle Dominic Bailey from St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, MD).
Bailey was one of the earliest commitments for the Vols in the 2020 class, committing to them on February 16, 2019. Despite Tennessee’s early struggles, and the best attempts by a plethora of Power Five schools to sway him, Bailey never wavered from his commitment. The six foot three inch, three hundred pound Bailey is one of Tennessee’s highest rated commitments, inside the top 250 prospects in the nation, but because he committed so early, he has been a bit overlooked through much of the recruiting process. That is unfortunate, as Bailey has played a national schedule at St. Frances, squaring off against some of the best high school teams in the country, and he regularly showed up on tape as a disruptive force on the defensive line, whoever he was lined up across from. In fact, Bailey is likely one of the most college ready players in the 2020 class for the Vols, and that is without considering that he is an early enrollee, already on campus and primed to go through spring football with the team.
In high school, Bailey played as a defensive tackle, working against the interior of opposing offensive lines. In Tennessee’s 3-4 front, Bailey looks to slot into the rotation as a defensive end, possibly kicking inside if the Vols go with a four man front in their sub packages. Derrick Ansley and defensive line coach Tracy Rocker are going to ask Bailey to learn a new position in their scheme, with new responsibilities and reads to match. That said, Bailey has the advantage of already being physically ready to make an impact at the SEC level, and he has additional time to work with coaches learning his new role this spring. Wherever he lines up for Tennessee, Bailey brings a combination of elite strength and good speed for his size into the defensive line. Against topflight high school competition, Bailey was a wrecking ball, showing the ability to take games over in the spotlight on multiple ESPN feature games. He commands a double team by the offensive line. In the high school ranks, he simply was not a player that could be blocked one-on-one. If an opponent attempted to do so, an offensive guard was usually driven back to the point of the handoff or into the quarterback’s lap. Even when teams did double team him, Bailey had the strength to drive back multiple blockers as well as split through them, pushing them apart to get into the backfield.
Bailey is more than his strength, however. He erupts out of his stance, fires into the offensive line with aggression and bad intentions. Bailey enjoys contact and the physicality of playing in the trenches. He has a mean streak on the field that shows on tape, and that edge sets the tone for the defenders around him. Bailey also has the speed and quickness to pick a gap and shoot it, either looking to blow a run play up with penetration or get immediate pressure up the middle into the quarterback’s face. His first step allows him to often leave an offensive lineman off balance and out of position. As he accelerates into the gap, his speed allows him to get upfield quickly, while his strength means he is more than capable of fighting through blockers trying to get hands on him late. Bailey shows on tape, again and again, that he has what it takes to live in the offensive backfield. Good high school lines struggled to contain him regardless of the role the coaches at St. Frances asked him to fulfill. Bailey can use that strength to get himself off of blocks to do more than just disrupt, he is fully capable of making plays himself. Bailey moves well for a player of his size, showing surprising lateral movement and looking very smooth when doing so. He has the speed and burst to close on ball carriers, and his immense strength means that when he gets hands on a runner, the chances of pulling free are slim.
Rocker is a coach that is noted for his ability to develop players, teaching them technical skills to maximize their physical talents. For Bailey, this looks to be an ideal pairing. While Bailey has solid technique, he has been successful very often due to his immense physical gifts and the way that he has developed them. He uses his hands well enough at the high school level, but he will have to develop better technique there at the next level, particularly if he is asked to play the five-technique. Similarly, Bailey plays with a pad level that can be too high at times, but due to his strength and size, he is able to overcome leverage and muscle linemen into the backfield. In the SEC, Bailey may still be able to achieve that feat from time to time, particularly as he gets older, but more often than not it will see him blocked out of a play. None of these things are marks of a bad player, rather, they are things that he did well enough to be dominant at the high school level. As he rises to the SEC, to be dominant, his technique will have to develop as well, and Bailey has a coach in Rocker with a track record of teaching technique that facilitates dominance up front.
Dominic Bailey rather quietly showed up in national game after nation game and looked dominant on the defensive front. Part of why it was so quiet was that he committed to Tennessee and never backed off his decision, there was no drama to report with him, so there was little reported. In Bailey, the Vols added a player that is physically ready to contribute in the defensive line rotation immediately. Though the Vols will have a senior laden group in 2020 with all their starters returning, thanks to his participation in spring ball as well as his positional versatility, look for Bailey to play meaningful snaps for the Vols as a true freshman, perhaps a lot of meaningful snaps if any of the seniors suffer injury. It is beyond 2020 that Bailey should figure in dramatically to the Tennessee defense, as he is one of the players Jeremy Pruitt is looking to anchor the defense throughout his collegiate career.