Last summer, before the high school football season was even close to kicking off, St. Peter’s Prep’s talented quarterback Joe Dailey truly believed he was making the decision of his lifetime when he gave a verbal commitment to attend Syracuse University and play football there.
Last week, Dailey obviously had a change of heart. He decided to rescind his commitment to Syracuse and decided to sign a national letter of intent to attend the University of Nebraska instead.
Dailey committed to attend Syracuse over the summer after taking an unofficial visit to the school while attending the school’s football camp in June. He was certain that the Orangemen’s option offensive attack would be perfect for his talents. It seemed to be a great fit all around.
However, Dailey took an official visit to the school during the second week of December and found that there were a lot of things that didn’t fit his makeup.
"I just didn’t have a good feeling about it," said Dailey, the Hudson Reporter’s Player of the Year in 2002, who threw for nearly 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns while rushing for another 800 yards and scoring 13 TDs.
"There were a few things I wasn’t comfortable with and it was all outside of football," Dailey said. "I felt that football wasn’t the main thought up there, when it should have been."
"This was not a football decision," St. Peter’s Prep head coach Rich Hansen said. "It’s about other things. He was not happy and made a decision to look elsewhere."
When Dailey told Hansen that he wanted to change his mind about Syracuse, Hansen immediately made a call to Nebraska head coach Frank Solich to inquire if the scholarship the Cornhuskers had offered to Dailey last spring was still available.
"Joe reinforced a great interest in Nebraska and decided to take a visit there," Hansen said. "He really enjoyed the trip. Frank Solich gave me his word that he was going to change things around."
The lone quarterback under scholarship at Nebraska is last year’s starter and Bayonne resident Jamaal Lord.
"Joe had a conversation with Lord, so that helped," Hansen said. "He visited Nebraska and loved it. When he came home, he said he was going to Nebraska instead of Syracuse."
Dailey was really torn emotionally with making the change.
"Of course, I felt bad," Dailey said. "It killed me to make the call to Syracuse and tell them I wasn’t coming. I had developed relationships with those guys. It breaks my heart. But I wouldn’t want to spend the next five years of my life unhappy."
Dailey said that once he visited the campus in Lincoln, his mind was made up.
"The place is outstanding," Dailey said. "It’s unlike any other school. It’s better than most professional organizations. I was treated like a prince out there."
Hansen said that he was somewhat angered when he learned Dailey had changed his mind.
"I really was upset with his decision," Hansen said. "But this is Joe’s decision. It’s his life and career. I’m just trying to guide him through it. He has to be true to himself."
Hansen said that he wasn’t hurt that his reputation might be tarnished by Dailey’s decision, considering that Hansen has had an impeccable relationship with the Syracuse coaching staff. In fact, Hansen was once considered to become an assistant coach at the school.
"I have only a loyalty to my kids and my program," Hansen said. "It’s the coaching staff’s job to win a kid over. I also have a good relationship with the Nebraska coaching staff as well. I’ve developed relationships with other coaches over the years and the decisions of my players have had nothing to do with those relationships. It’s the right place at the right time and it’s Joe’s choice, which is the most important thing. My loyalty is to Joe. College coaches have to realize that it’s the nature of the business."
Dailey said that he has not been given any guarantees and expects to compete with Lord for the starting quarterback slot with the Cornhuskers in the fall.
Dailey said that he now cannot wait to sign the letter of intent with Nebraska to get the entire process over with. He can officially sign Feb. 5.
"There will be a relief once I sign," Dailey said. "In my mind, I always thought I would sign with Syracuse, even though I knew it was bad for me. I was beginning to feel bad about the whole process, so making the change is the best thing for me."
Dailey, who plans to major in exercise science at Nebraska, likes the challenge even more of going away further to play at potentially a more prominent program.
"Football is my life, so this is the road that I’ve chosen," Dailey said. – Jim Hague