Pitt FB Recruiting
Dad of Pitt QB Commit Corey Dailey Has Unique Perspective as His Coach
As long as Craig Dailey can remember, his son Corey has been right there alongside him in his football coaching ventures.
Growing up, Corey would join him in the quarterbacks room to watch film and was on the sidelines as a water boy when his father was an assistant coach at Katy High School during back-to-back state championship appearances, including a title win in 2015.
Dailey eventually returned to his hometown and alma mater, Seguin High School, in 2021 where he was a three year letterman and team captain at quarterback in the late 1990s.
That’s where Dailey has had a unique view as head football coach and father of his only son, who is following in his footsteps as the school’s quarterback, along with carving out a career that has put him on a Power Four path as a Pitt commit.
“As a dad, it makes us proud,” Dailey told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “There’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Being a coaches’ kid and the starting quarterback in your dad’s hometown where he played the same position, there’s a lot of pressure on that. We’re in a small town in Texas where Texas is known for its football. Everywhere he goes, people know who he his. The spotlight’s been on him. There’s been a lot of pressure on him and he’s handled it well. To see him reap the benefits of all the hard work, it makes us proud for him and any of our kids that have success.”
With the pressure placed on Corey, the journey has not been easy. There was uncertainty on how he would develop, but by the time he reached his junior season, he was nearly 6-foot-6 and standing out on the field.
“Just like most of our kids that we coach in high school, you see the biggest transition between their sophomore and junior year and that was the time he grew the most,” Dailey said. “His sophomore season, if you look at his video, he was a real gangly kind of goofy kid because he grew so fast, he wasn’t really into his body and everybody really wanted to know how athletic he was at that size. Going into the offseason for his junior year, you could see him transition to his athleticism of his body, especially during the basketball season. Being a multi-sport kid has really helped him out on the athletic side and showing off his athleticism.”
With Corey’s growth, his father saw it firsthand translate to the field during his junior season and that’s when he knew his son could attract college programs.
“He’s always had the knowledge and he’s always had a good arm, but last year, he really took it to another level how he can extend plays and make plays with his legs,” Dailey said. “That was probably the biggest thing I saw him grow in and that’s when I thought he could probably play at the higher level.
Corey Dailey 6’6 185 Class of 2026
– 2,529 Passing Yards
– 35 Passing TD’S
– 6 Rushing TD’S
– 62% Completion
– 111 Qb Rate
Full JR Yr – https://t.co/tZZ1YM5Puf pic.twitter.com/HuVexnQPjr— Corey Dailey (@Dailey4Corey) December 5, 2024
“He’s a coaches’ kid, so he processes real well. He understands defenses. He understands what everybody on the field does and he’s our field general. It’s been pretty cool to see him grow as a freshman through his junior year and now going on his senior year just how he’s developed as a quarterback and how he’s managed the game.”
After Corey put together a strong junior campaign in which he completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,529 yards and 35 touchdowns, he started to receive more interest from schools, including his first Power Four offer from Pitt in January.
His family then took a trip to Pittsburgh in March to check out a few spring practices and then returned for an official visit during the second weekend of June.
That’s when Corey and his family knew Pitt was the place for him.
“It just reiterated the plan they had for him on the development side of developing him as a player and a person. They do a really good job of developing kids there,” Dailey said.
Pitt quarterback commit Corey Dailey. Photo courtesy of Dailey’s Instagram account.
The three-star prospect became the second quarterback commit in the 2026 class for Pitt. However, Dailey says his son, who plays football, basketball and baseball, has always welcomed competition.
“That’s all he does,” Dailey said. “He competes all year round. He’s a three-sport athlete and plays at a high level in all three sports. He knows he’s going to have to go compete anywhere. I know people have asked him about two quarterbacks in the class. In this day and age of college football, they’re either going to bring a couple high school kids or they’re going to go to the portal every year to bring guys in to compete because in order to compete at a high level, you have to have a quarterback. He knows that, so he’s not going to shy away from the competition.”
Now a member of the Panthers’ 2026 recruiting class, Dailey is excited for the opportunity to play at Pitt.
“I think Pitt is doing a great job right now,” Dailey said. “They’re really recruiting Texas kids hard and Florida kids hard. They have a plan of how they’re going to develop kids and I think that’s what they really believe in and they have a great culture going right now. We’re excited about being apart of the Pitt family now.”
