ENMU's Bailey wraps up college grid career in style

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PORTALES — It’s almost time for Eastern New Mexico University linebacker Seth Bailey to move on to the “real” world.

Bailey capped his ENMU football career this month by earning the Lone Star Conference’s linebacker of the year award. Still, he’s not quite ready to give up sports.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound graduate of Texico H.S. is having a go-around with the school’

link Staff photo: Joshua Lucero

ENMU senior Seth Bailey scored two defensive touchdowns for the Greyhounds this season, including a 30-yard fumble return in the team’s Nov. 15 win over rival West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference’s fifth-place playoff game at Greyhound Stadium. Bailey, from Texico, was chosen the LSC’s linebacker of the year.

s basketball team. Bailey, who said he doesn’t think he’ll be eligible to play after the semester, saw his first action on Friday and scored five points in 22 minutes off the bench, less than two weeks after the football season ended.

“The coach (Stott Carter) asked me (to play),” Bailey said. “He wanted me to come in and push the team at practice.”

That’s the kind of player he is, ENMU football coach Josh Lynn said. Bailey, who was a football redshirt and played basketball as a freshman before devoting himself to the former fulltime, has led the Hounds in tackles for each of the past two seasons.

This year he intercepted a team-high four passes, returning one for a touchdown and scoring another time on a fumble return. And this week he was also named to the LSC football all-academic first team.

“There’s not a better kid in any program than Seth Bailey,” Lynn said. “He’s a great role model for eastern New Mexico kids. Being the linebacker of the year in our conference is a big-time thing.

“When you build a team, you want kids like (junior quarterback) Jeremy Buurma and Seth Bailey leading your offense and defense.”

Bailey said he was surprised by the award, noting that Angelo State senior Rush Seaver could just as easily have won it.

“I think it was pretty much between us (for the award),” Bailey said. “I just wanted to have the best year I could. Truly, I didn’t have as many tackles (81 total) as I had hoped for, but I think having so many interceptions and the fumble return helped me out.”

Bailey came to ENMU as a receiver under then-coach Mark Ribaudo. When Lynn took over the program in 2012, he quickly changed him to defense based on need.

“When we got there, he was 220 pounds and fast,” Lynn said. “We weren’t going to use that many receivers. We needed linebackers, and he was our best fit.”

Bailey said he was fine with the change.

“I was ready for the opportunity,” he said. “I was rusty and didn’t trust myself linebacker, but coach Lynn kept telling me he believed in me.”

This year, he took on more of a leadership role.

“(Defensive coordinator Oliver) Soukup trusted me more to make calls (on the field),” Bailey said. “He told me that if I thought we needed to changed out of stuff, I could. That gave me more confidence.”

ENMU shared the Lone Star Conference title last year, its first since 1991, and recorded its second consecutive seven-win season in 2014 — the first time that’s happened at the school since the late 1990s under Bud Elliott.

“When I got here, we were pretty much at the bottom of the barrel, so I’m thankful,” Bailey said. “We were hoping to do better this year, but I’m still proud of that record. I feel very fortunate.”

Bailey is majoring in math/secondary education with a minor in agricultural education. He hopes to coach and teach at the high school level, but if that doesn’t come about right away he said he might be able to serve as a grad assistant for Lynn.

And he hasn’t totally ruled out the possibility of still playing football, perhaps in Europe.

“There’s an opportunity for that, but it’s a slim possibility,” he said.

link Staff photo: Joshua Lucero

ENMU senior Seth Bailey scored two defensive touchdowns for the Greyhounds this season, including a 30-yard fumble return in the team’s Nov. 15 win over rival West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference’s fifth-place playoff game at Greyhound Stadium. Bailey, from Texico, was chosen the LSC’s linebacker of the year.