What the NFL told Zack Bailey when he submitted his name for the draft
South Carolina offensive lineman Zack Bailey submitted the paperwork to get an NFL draft evaluation this offseason.
The response was pretty direct.
“They just told me to go back to school,” Bailey said. “With the grading system now, they give you 1 and 2, and after that they just tell you to go back to school. Which is OK because my degree means more to me than anything.
“This December, I’ll get my degree and right after that I’ll start playing [pro] ball.”
The one or two are first- or second-round grades. Bailey is set to enter his third season starting for USC, and he’s moving back to an old position.
He’ll be a guard this season, his natural spot and where he played as a sophomore. He bumped out to right tackle last season and was still one of USC’s better linemen when healthy. As a true freshman, he also filled in for a few games at center.
He hoped the experience can help him whenever he joins the professional ranks.
“Being versatile is a huge part of the league and my future,” Bailey said. “That’s a great accomplishment that I would like to do and to keep doing that is awesome.
“As of right now, I’m just focusing on this team.”
He’s coming back to a line that’s replacing two starters, though his likely replacement at tackle (Blake Camper) is a fourth-year player the coaches trust, and the favorite for the other guard spot (Sadarius Hutcherson) played well last season.
Bailey has been a key part of a team that went from three to six to nine wins, and while the offensive front improved last season, it wasn’t a dominant unit by any stretch.
He’ll play a role in how much that group can move forward and said he’s happy to be back in the middle of the trenches.
He knows his NFL future is still a year away, but he found value in submitting his name and going through a small part of the process.
“Just to get my name out there also so they see my film, all these teams, that they know that I’m getting ready to enter the draft,” he said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 1:21 PM with the headline "What the NFL told Zack Bailey when he submitted his name for the draft."