Bailey’s improvement boosts UNI playoff run

CEDAR FALLS — A little more than a month ago, Aaron Bailey had lost his starting job as quarterback for the Northern Iowa football team, and had struggled to find any kind of consistency under center for the Panthers.

But after unfortunate circumstances in the way of a season-ending head injury to Sawyer Kollmorgen, Bailey was thrust back into the fray.

He has responded.

Through a five-game winning streak and headed into the playoffs, the Illinois transfer has found his feet — and used them — to become the heart of the offense and one of the best runners in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

'Just putting in extra time in the film room, extra time after practice and stuff like that,' Bailey said when asked to credit his improvement. 'I'm just getting more comfortable, too. Learning a new offense, learning some lingo (and) just getting more comfortable and hungry for the game. Things are on the uprise for us.'

Through circumstances at his former school and timing, this season was the first real game action Bailey had seen in two full seasons. No matter how much film study and practice reps a guy takes, game action is a completely different animal, and it took until the final quarter of the season for him to feel like he was in a position to lead the offense.

The improvements and success led him to be named the MVFC Newcomer of the Year on Monday.

Bailey has shown prowess on the ground — specifically in the read-option — all season. He leads the Panthers (7-4) and is third overall in the MVFC with 195 carries for 1,029 yards and a team-QB-record 17 rushing touchdowns. Where he's improved the greatest is passing, where he's thrown for 1,362 yards on 54.2 percent completion, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. The regular-season finale against Southern Illinois, in which he went 14 of 20 for 181 yards and two touchdowns was the first game all season he'd thrown for at least 70 percent completion.

'I'd been out of commission for two years. It's all getting back in the groove of things in terms of my health and my conditioning,' Bailey said. 'All those little factors play into it and I think with me getting more consistent and more reps throughout the week, it made my game a lot easier.

'Starting to get back into it, it's football at the end of the day. Realizing this type of play beats this coverage, or this concept beats that coverage. In the beginning of the season, I was thinking, but now I'm relaxed and just playing my game; letting the game come to me.'

A major help to Bailey when dropping back to pass has been the protection up front.

Early in the season, Bailey — whether by choice or not — was bouncing out of the pocket on the run significantly more than he was standing in and going through a progression in his reads. Both because of improvements in his comfortability in the system and the offensive line's play, he's now much more patient when dropping back to pass.

Coach Mark Farley lauded improvements in the offensive line when asked about it Monday.

'We weren't very good at the beginning of the season,' Farley said. 'We were out of rhythm, out of sync and had no technique. Now we're fundamentally sound, players understand what we expect of them, understand the plays and their technique and play is much better. They're faster, but they're playing with patience.'

'Comfortable,' was a word Bailey used several times and in several different contexts when discussing his game this week.

If UNI is to advance in these playoffs, Bailey guiding the offense will be the X-Factor in what puts the Panthers over the top. No one wanted Kollmorgen to exit due to injury, but as Farley has said a few different times since, maybe that was the impetus for where Bailey is now.

And has Kollmorgen said after his injury, he's stuck around to help his teammate.

'In a way (being the only guy has helped), but in a way it doesn't. If you don't do your job correctly then someone else comes in,' Bailey said. 'It can kind of sometimes be a bother, but with me and Sawyer being close teammates, that's what helped us get through. He still helps me out to this day, which is the funniest thing. I love that. He's kind of like a coach for me, another set of eyes and it's a great addition.

'It's unfortunate he got hurt, but we're playing for our team, playing for Sawyer and will keep going through it.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com