MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When Stedman Bailey was playing at Miramar High, he used to go online to look up the stats of the top wide receiver prospects in Dade and Broward Counties.
 
He always wanted to know where he stood with them.
 
"I've always been a competitive person," he recalled Monday afternoon. "I was always undersized as a wide receiver, so I needed to play bigger and put up better numbers than some of these guys that were around me that may have better intangibles as far as size goes. I would look at the stats of the players in Dade and Broward County to see who was leading, and I just tried to make sure I was either one, two or three."
 
A few years later, on a much bigger stage, Bailey continued to do it at West Virginia University. Bailey's amazing 13-catch, 303-yard, five-touchdown performance against Baylor in 2012 was the result of some avid SportsCenter watching.
 
He wanted to know who those other good guys were out there.
 
"The week before the Baylor game, SportsCenter was highlighting a receiver from Arkansas (Cobi Hamilton) who had a 300-yard receiving game," Bailey said. "Well, I was blown away thinking, 'Wow, this guy is running up and down the field' so there I was dreaming."
 
Dreaming, of course, of doing something similar.
 
"Our first Big 12 game wasn't just very important for us as a team, but for the whole fan base," Bailey explained. "We wanted to jump in and make a big splash and let the whole Big 12 know we were there. That was such a fun game. I'm having fun, I'm getting a lot of targets, but I could barely get a break because Baylor was scoring the same amount of points."
 
The final score was West Virginia 70, Baylor 63 in one of the most amazing football games ever played at Milan Puskar Stadium. The two teams combined for 67 first downs and more than 1,200 yards of total offense.
 
Baylor's Terrance Williams caught 17 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns.
 
"I saw them flash his stats on the video board, and I'm like, 'I've got to keep going,'" Bailey said.
 
He did and his teammates did, too. Tavon Austin (14 catches for 215 yards) and JD Woods (13 catches for 114 yards) also had big days, as did quarterback Geno Smith who completed 45 of his 51 pass attempts for 656 yards and eight touchdowns.
 
That 2012 season was like no other in terms of offensive football for West Virginia. The Mountaineers averaged 504.9 yards per game with their catalysts being Smith at quarterback, Austin at slot receiver and Bailey at outside receiver.
 
All three are being inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame this weekend.

Smith performed admirably in last night's 17-16 victory over Denver on Monday night football, the quarterback completing 17 of his first 18 passes and finishing with a pair of touchdown throws.
 
Austin is still hanging on in the league as a member of the Buffalo Bills' practice squad after spending the last nine seasons in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Dallas, Green Bay and Jacksonville.
 
Bailey played three years in St. Louis before his professional career abruptly ended the night of Nov. 24, 2015, when a barrage of bullets nearly shattered his skull. One bullet traveled through his head and exited just above his eyebrow.
 
It was a random, drive-by shooting not too far from where Bailey grew up in Miramar, Florida, where he lives today. Miraculously, he survived.
 
"Wrong place at the wrong time," Bailey says.
 
"It didn't make sense because I'm not that type of person at all," he added. "It's one thing if you are living that lifestyle, but I've gotten to a place in life where I really think that God doesn't make mistakes. I'm alive today, healthy and well. From a physical standpoint, I could have made it back to the NFL, but it just wasn't within my best interests due to the head injury I sustained from being shot."
 
At the time, Bailey didn't realize the extent of his injuries and when his doctors asked him what his recovery goals were he told them that he wanted to get back to the league. They looked at him like he was crazy. They were more concerned about him ever functioning again normally.
 
A typical recovery process for the injuries Bailey sustained was about two years, doctors told him. But Stedman was out of the hospital in a month and was actually well enough to participate in West Virginia's Pro Day just six months after the shooting.
 
His burning desire to return to the football field was that great. However, it just didn't make sense for him to continue considering the delicate nature of his injuries.
 
"I humbly believe I would still be playing today if that never took place," Bailey said.
 
It's hard to argue with that. 
 
He caught 30 passes for 435 yards and a touchdown during his second season with the Rams and was getting more targets during his third season when the shooting took place. Considering the other challenges he overcame at WVU, I wouldn't have bet against him.
 
Bailey is considered one of the greatest wide receivers in school history, his 25 touchdown catches in 2012 and his 41 career touchdown receptions in only 39 career games will be tough to ever duplicate. He believes his single-season touchdown record in 2012 will be difficult to ever exceed.
 
He lists four reasons why: style of offense, consistent, reliable performer, a great quarterback to deliver the football and a complementary receiver to take away double teams.
 
West Virginia had all four of those that year with the reliable Bailey, Dana Holgorsen's Air Raid scheme, quarterback Geno Smith and Tavon Austin as the team's slot receiver.
 
In fact, Austin probably contributed to Bailey not winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver in 2012 despite him having the best numbers of any receiver in the country that year. Tavon's 114 catches for 1,289 yards and 12 touchdowns likely peeled off some of Bailey's potential votes.
 
USC's Marqise Lee won the award with two fewer catches and 11 fewer touchdown receptions than Bailey had that season.
 
"USC had a history of other guys winning it, so I think he was the sexier pick, so to say," Bailey admitted.
 
If the Baylor game was Stedman's most memorable performance, then the USF game during his sophomore season produced his most memorable catch.
 
It came on fourth and 10 late in a game that was tied 27-all. Stedman found an opening in the Bulls' defense and caught a 26-yard pass that took the football to the USF 16, setting up Tyler Bitancurt's game-winning, 28-yard field goal. The win put West Virginia in the Orange Bowl to face Clemson, which the Mountaineers defeated 70-33.
 
"The smack down in (Hard Rock Stadium) doesn't happen if I don't make that catch," Bailey admitted.
 
As for the play, he said it was simply some backyard football that he used to do all of the time with Geno when they played together at Miramar.
 
"I was singled up on the left side of the field," Bailey said. "I remember coach (Dana) Holgorsen kind of pulling me and Geno aside and asking us what do we want to run? I thought a comeback and go would be perfect.
 
"I remember they brought a linebacker out to kind of stand directly in front of me at the line of scrimmage, and they put a corner about 10-12 yards behind him with the safeties behind him," Bailey said. "I ran around the linebacker and was trying to close the cushion on the corner trying to make him thing I'm running a comeback and he didn't budge. 
 
"So, I saw a huge window toward the middle of the field and kind of curved in there and Geno fired it. I saw it clearly. I had to leave my feet for it, but anytime I could see a ball clearly, I could get it. I just did what I normally do."
 
Stedman's three-year numbers included 210 catches for 3,218 yards and 41 touchdowns. Had he played a fourth year for the Mountaineers, he would have obliterated all of the school receiving records.
 
Today, he is living in South Florida with his wife, Stephanie, and their nine-year-old son Stedman Jr. They are expecting an addition to the family later this year.

"I've got my wife and my son, and right now we are expecting," Bailey said. "I'm in a really good place, and I'm thankful and grateful to be alive."
 
Bailey said 10 of his closest family members will be in Morgantown to help celebrate his induction this weekend.
 
"My time at West Virginia was truly a great experience and a journey I think I really needed just to evolve as a man," Bailey said. "I can't wait to get back to Morgantown for what will be such a monumental moment for me."
 
Bailey is one of eight deserving members in this year's hall of fame class. The others are Smith and Austin, women's basketball player Donna Abbott, track and cross country standout Marie-Louise Asselin, national champion rifle coach Marsha Beasley, men's basketball's Kevin Jones and rifle trailblazer Marilee Hohmann. 
 
The induction ceremony will take place in the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility at 10 a.m. prior to Saturday's West Virginia-Towson football game. 
 
The event is free to the general public.