MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Three of the most dynamic playmakers in Mountaineer football history will be enshrined together in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame Saturday morning. Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin and Geno Smith are all inductees in the Class of 2022. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility. Kickoff for the WVU-Towson game is at 1 p.m.
Smith and Austin are unable to attend the ceremony. Smith is the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks and he led them to a 17-16 season-opening win over Denver on Monday night. Austin is on the practice squad with the Buffalo Bills. Bailey will return to Morgantown for the festivities.
“I had some of my best days being in Morgantown and wearing the ‘Flying WV’ and putting it on for the state. It was great and it was amazing,” Bailey said on Tuesday’s Citynet Statewide Sportsline.
.@iamSB3, former @WVUFootball wide receiver, will be one of the inductees in this weekend’s @WVUSports Hall of Fame ceremony. He talks about his career with @TonyCaridi and @HunterWvu88bgn. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/K6LlPeeveB
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 13, 2022
Bailey earned All-America honors in 2012 and was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award that year. In his final season, he was named a first team All-American by the Football Writers’ Association of America, CBSSports.com, Phil Steele and SI.com.
With 25 touchdown receptions in 2012, Bailey is tied for second all-time in FBS history with Randy Moss. At the end of his career, he owned the school record for consecutive 100-yard receiving games (five) and most career 100-yard receiving games (14).
Bailey set the WVU career touchdown reception record (41) with five against Baylor and set the Big 12 season record with 25. He finished with a career-best 303 yards receiving in that Baylor contest, including a career-long 87-yard touchdown reception.
“Time flies. It does feel like it was yesterday. I have a 9-year-old son now who was conceived going into my last year at West Virginia. As I look at him, time is flying. He’ll get a chance to be back in Morgantown with me this weekend and see me be inducted. It is a real special occasion for me.”
Austin, Bailey and Smith wrapped up their WVU playing careers in 2012. The trio led the Mountaineers to Big East titles in 2010 and 2011 and a 70-33 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl during their junior seasons.
“We were all 4-stars so we kind of came in with the mentality that we want to first and foremost do whatever we can to help the team win and contribute any way we can. I think for me and Tavon, we secretly kind of just always competed against one another. Ultimately, it made us one of the most dynamic duos to play college football. It was a lot of fun. We were all able to feed off each other’s energy and try to do all we can to win games or keep us in games that we lost.”
Bailey and Smith were also high school teammates for three seasons at Miramar High School in Miami, Fla.
“If you want to count how many touchdowns Geno has thrown me over our careers, it is probably somewhere over 75.”