Tromone Bailey of McAdams is the ninth member of the Star-Herald “Top 11 To Watch” to be unveiled. They are being revealed in no particular order on a week-by-week basis and all six of the schools in the Star-Herald coverage area — Kosciusko, Ethel, McAdams, French Camp, Central Holmes and Winona Christian will be represented. Previously announced as members the Top 11 were Antonio Harmon and Kobe Carter of Kosciusko, Dalton Wiggins, and John White of Winona Christian School, C.J. Johnson of French Camp Academy, Kyle Nabors of Ethel, Jace Dean of Central Holmes Christian School, and Jalen Perteet of McAdams High School.
McAdams’ Tromone Bailey would be easy to overlook, but that would be a mistake.
He is not that tall at only 5-foot-5 and he is not an outspoken person who is going to draw a lot of attention.
But when McAdams coach Kenneth Nelson is in a bind, Bailey is the one he goes looking for.
Bailey returns for his senior year at McAdams after a breakout junior season in which he ran for 790 yards on 94 carries with eight touchdowns, both of which led the Bulldogs.
But Bailey did not begin the year out as the featured running back. But Nelson saw some potential in Bailey and in the first game of the season had to call on the junior running back.
“The first game of the season against J.Z. George, Lakarius Ward was our running back going into the season, and had a really bad ankle injury in the preseason so we had to go with Tavion (Rimmer),” Nelson said. “I couldn’t really trust Tromone with the ball to start with because he always fumbled the ball in practice. If he could get the ball in practice, he could go. When we got to J.Z. George, Lakarius was having trouble, Tavion was getting tired and Jalen Perteet was tired. I told Tromone that he had to go. His first carry was about 16 yards. He took a power play and got to the line and made a cut and it was so natural and he was gone for about 16 yards.”
Even Nelson admitted that he was surprised with what he saw on that first carry and decided to see if it was a fluke.
“It was just so natural for him,” Nelson said. “After that cut, his foot is down in the ground and he is gone like a horse. So we called the play the other direction and he got 15 yards. I told one of my coaches, ‘That dude is pretty fast and shifty.’ Later on in the game, he had a fumble and I told him that if he wanted to be a running back and be one of the main guys on the team, that he was going to have to hold on to the football.”
It did not take Bailey long to fix his fumbling issues as he burst on the scene with three straight 100-yard rushing games with a season high 181 yards on 13 carries against rival Ethel in week three.
“We started to give him the ball more and he led us in rushing against West Lowndes and Ethel. When we got to Loyd Star, he tore them up. He had almost 200 yards. We really thought it was going to be a physical game, but he just tore them up on like 13 or 14 carries. But I knew after that first cut against J.Z. George that we had something and he could be that running back for us.”
Bailey’s production fell off midway through the season as the other running backs got healthy, but it was a big play in a 14-6 win over Coffeeville that secured a playoff spot that Nelson remembers best.
“He won the game for us against Coffeeville,” Nelson said. “We came back against Coffeeville. The score was like 8-7 going into the fourth quarter. Tromone took a toss sweep down the right sideline and made a cut at the sideline. A defensive guy came up and hit him. He has the ability to take a hit and keep on running. He makes a cut, takes a hit and bounces off and goes and scores a touchdown. If we don’t win that game, we don’t make the playoffs. He has tremendous balance and first step off of his cut.”
With his efforts, Nelson said Bailey went from being a behind-the-scenes guy to an unsung hero for the team. This year, Nelson sees Bailey in an increased role on the team.
“He is going to have a bit of an expanded role this year,” Nelson said. “Last year was my first year and he came in and hadn’t started a game before and hadn’t played very much. He had hardly ever touched the field. I saw that this kid would work hard and he could run. He had good feet for a kid that hadn’t had that much playing time on the field so I tried him at running back. Now he is the leading rusher on the team and led the team in touchdowns last year. To the kids, he is the unsung hero of the team for the kids. The kids rally around him. Two years ago, he wasn’t even heard of. Now they are like, ‘Give Tromone the ball, let Tromone run the ball.’ When he gets that ball, his first cut past the line of scrimmage is devastating. He’ll have to run the ball more this year, that’s for sure.”
It is not just Bailey’s abilities on the field that Nelson likes; it is what comes off the field as well. Bailey, who lives with his grandparents, is a true blue-collar kind of guy that just works hard every day and does whatever needs to be done.
“Tromone Bailey comes from very humble beginnings,” Nelson said. "He stays with his grandmother and grandfather. His grandfather is a very hard-working man who makes Tromone work by the sweat of his brow. Tromone is probably the most blue-collar, lunch-pail kid that we have on the team. He is not the biggest or the fastest, but he knows how to work. His granddaddy has instilled that in him. He does a lot of scrap metal and a lot of hauling. He takes Tromone with him on that. Tromone is a hard-nosed dude because of his granddaddy. He is a ‘yes sir,’ ‘no sir’ kind of kid. He always wants to do the right thing.”
While his senior year might be his swan song in football, Nelson said he is not worried about what will happen to Bailey after he finishes playing football, much like his brothers, one of whom is a police officer in Houston. Bailey said after he graduates from McAdams, he would like to go to lineman school.
“You will look up in 10 years and he will be a solid citizen,” Nelson said. “He might be a welder or laying bricks or something like that and probably still helping his granddad haul scrap. I can see him coming to me offering to help with the program and he’s the kind of guy that you want around your program. He will be a model citizen. He doesn’t mind doing anything, if it’s cleaning bathrooms or washing clothes. Last year, I started out with five coaches and ended up with just me and an assistant. So Tromone was the guy would come by and ask if he could help me wash clothes or do something before he went home and he would do it. He’s a guy you can depend on.”
