Senior quarterback Harrison Bailey has been the starter for Marietta since his freshman season. After turning heads at the middle school level and winning B2C QB of the Year following his eighth grade season playing for Hillgrove, the promising prospect arrived at Marietta. It was during this time that he began getting serious attention from college recruiters and he concluded his debut with 2,812 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Injuries have put Bailey on the sideline for portions of each of his past two years, but when Bailey is healthy, the Marietta offense is nearly unstoppable. Bailey has passed for 61 total touchdowns in his 25 combined starts with a 300 yards per game average. He will appear in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl before he is expected to compete for a starting role at the University of Tennessee following his varsity career. As for 2019, Marietta will be depending on his presence tremendously, as the team gears up to make a run at the Class AAAAAAA championship.
“He just does everything,” said head coach Richard Morgan. “He is so good. We just have to keep him healthy this year so we can make that run that we want to make. He is just a great leader and he is going to be great in college, but he has some unfinished business at the high school level and I think you are going to see that this season in terms of his drive and I think that is going to help carry us.”
In last year’s Corky Kell Classic, Bailey set all-time passing records, but Rome left the shootout victorious 51-41. Bailey completed 37-of-54 pass attempts for 448 yards and six touchdowns in the defeat. By the time his junior season was over, Bailey had passed for 2,809 yards and 29 touchdowns with just six interceptions in his nine starts. He was sidelined for the final game of the regular season and also the first round matchup against East Coweta and his absence was felt. Freshman Tyler Hughes filled in and finished 8-of-23 for 162 yards and three touchdowns as Marietta got outpaced by East Coweta 28-26.
Despite the disappointing finishes to Marietta’s last two seasons—the playoff loss last season, and the GHSA forcing the forfeiture all of the program’s victories in 2017—the Blue Devils have every reason to believe that they can go the distance in 2019 with Bailey running the show. There is no shortage of talent on Marietta’s roster this season and Bailey is capable of getting all the pieces involved to maximize the offense’s effectiveness.
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