It’s been a unique road to get to where Daelin Hayes is at today. The former highly touted recruit showed great potential in high school despite injuries and transfers that stunted his development. Finally, that road has led him to his junior season at Notre Dame where he has found some stability.
“It’s my first time being year two of any defense since like I was in eighth grade or something like that,” Hayes stated. “The natural progression of the learning curve from first year to second year, you’re just a lot more comfortable and confident.
“Things have definitely slowed down. That’s the first time I’ve regularly experienced that. It’s been awesome”
That comfort level combined with a lot of hard work in the off-season has Hayes poised for a breakthrough this fall. He spent the summer concentrating on getting bigger, faster, and more explosive. He's experienced serious gains in the weight room since he came to Notre Dame as a freshman.
“My 225 (bench press) when I first got here, y’all know I had the shoulder surgeries, when I first got here I could only do 225 like 11 times,” admitted Hayes. “This summer I got it up to 31.”
31. That would have tied for the highest total from an Edge prospect at this most recent NFL combine. Not too shabby for someone who was considered a raw athlete as opposed to a powerful football player when he arrived as an early enrollee.
Gaining that strength isn’t about prepping for his future testing at the combine, though. It’s about translating that strength on the field and his size and strength gains have stood out from what we’ve seen so far.
“I knew things I had to work on,” Hayes said. “Last year sometimes I would get engaged with a tackle and couldn’t rip off. Things of that nature. So I knew I had to make strength and explosion, being able to get off blocks and get involved in tackles and stuff. I knew that was a point of emphasis I needed to work on this off-season. So I took that upon myself in the weight room by getting stronger and bigger.”
While Hayes pushes himself to improve on certain aspects of his game, he’s being pushed by fellow Drop end Julian Okwara who is competing for playing time with Hayes. He’s not getting caught up with who is going to play more or how each player will be used on Saturdays because he believes the coaches will put them both in a position to succeed.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to trust that our coaches are going to put us in a position to maximize the production from both players,” said Hayes. “However that comes, I trust my coaches and I believe they are going to put in great positions and it’s our job to go out on the field and change the game that we are capable of.”
One likely reason why Hayes feels that way is because new coordinator Clark Lea has shown how much he cares for each individual on the defense. That’s made Hayes and his teammates comfortable being all-in with everything they are being taught.
“Coach Lea is very invested in who we are young men off the field.” Hayes declared, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Coach Lea cares about who we are and the way that we carry ourselves and the defense off the field as much as anything we do on the field.
“I think that just drives home a level of investment and care for the guy. Everybody knows that they have a role within the defense and everybody buys into that role.”
There is no doubt that Hayes is excited about playing for Lea and excited about what the defense can accomplish this season. Expectations are high for a group that returns so much talent and experience, but the way Hayes sees it, those expectations are justified.
“I think the defense is the heartbeat of this team. Our team lives and dies with us. I just think it’s on us to really set the tone in games and being able to maintain that throughout the season.”
