Daelin Hayes Adding To Notre Dame's End Game
It’s unusual for a college senior defensive end who was ranked a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and ranked seventh nationally last year by Pro Football Focus in run-stop rate (minimum of 150 snaps on running plays), to be overshadowed.
Yet that was where Daelin Hayes was entering this season while classmates and fellow defensive ends Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem were projected as potential first- or second-round selections next spring. In some ways, it has been a beneficial role reversal for Hayes.
Earlier in his career the expectations that come with his rating might have weighed down Hayes at times. Now, with others more in the spotlight, he has come to the forefront and has been singled out by head coach Brian Kelly as the watched pot that is finally boiling.
“Before it's all said and done, he will be talked quite a bit about … not a good season but a spectacular season,” said Kelly prior to last week’s home opener versus New Mexico. “He's done everything the right way. … He has been virtually ‘unblockable.’ It's going to show itself eventually. …Daelin Hayes is the guy you need to keep an eye on.”
After a strong, assertive debut at Louisville (highlighted by a sack and recovered fumble), Hayes last week was named Blueandgold.com’s defensive player of the game in the 66-14 rout of the Lobos.
Following a slow start by the offense, Hayes began the festivities by tipping a pass that freshman safety Kyle Hamilton intercepted and returned for a touchdown to open the scoring. Two tackles for loss by Hayes, one with the score only 14-0 and New Mexico with a first down at Notre Dame’s 41, also helped stifle any momentum built by the Lobos.
Kelly hinted that until the back half of last season, Hayes tended to play outside of himself in an attempt to justify his incoming hype.
“Maybe he was more interested in the net outcome,” Kelly said. “He pays attention to the details of his position so much more, being part of the 11 guys, and he's benefiting from that. It is a much more focused player, driven by the fact that maybe he's been overshadowed a little bit and he's playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder —and that's a good thing.”
“It's cool … but it's something that you don't want to really get too caught up in it,” said Hayes of Kelly’s praise. “But I'm grateful to be in this position and I'm grateful to be able to go out and help my team.
“Holistically, it's just the mental space, physical space that I've been in as of late. Being balanced… just finding the right way to kind of keep everything in perspective has been huge for me, and being able to just focus on what I need to do to help with the team and making sure that I can do that to the best of my ability.
"Just focusing on those small things, just the details of the game, and staying in the best mental space I can maintain.”
Okwara and Kareem still had the most snap counts the first two weeks at end with 84 and 83 respectively, but Hayes is basically the third starter with 69 (35 versus New Mexico and 34 at Louisville).
With greater expectations upon them, it was actually Okwara and Kareem who jumped off-sides at Louisville to help keep the Cardinals’ first two touchdown drives alive.
“Everybody wants to perform well, and sometimes that can cloud small things — jumping offsides,” Hayes said. “It's the small details: your technique, focusing on the things that got you here initially, instead of being so outcome-based.
“We took a bye week to really focus on ourselves and really get back to the intangibles that got us here.”
The stakes rise immensely this week at No. 3 Georgia, which features one of the nation’s most efficient passers in Jake Fromm — whose first career start was the 20-19 victory at Notre Dame in 2017 — against an Irish unit that ranks third nationally in pass efficiency defense after placing sixth last year.
While defensive ends are often measured by sacks, Notre Dame’s opposition has emphasized getting rid of the ball quickly because of their respect of the Irish pass rush. That shows up not in the sack numbers but in pass efficiency defense.
“We're getting exactly what we want in terms of pressuring the quarterback, making them get the ball out of his hands quickly,” Kelly said.
“Teams are very scared of our pass rush, so a lot of times they don't give us a lot of drop-back opportunities,” Hayes echoed. “They get the ball out quick — speed option to try and neutralize hard count, and anything that they can really do to try [to] neutralize our pass rush.”
With Fromm, who Kelly rates among the nation’s premier quarterbacks, there likely will be more patience with the drop-back game, especially with a veteran offensive line. Pressuring the less mobile Fromm will be at a premium, although job one is to still stop the run, where Georgia is 8th nationally (286.7 yards per game) while the Irish are 120th out of 130 teams in run defense (230.5 yards per game).
The memories of the heartbreaking loss to the Bulldogs in 2017 linger for Hayes.
“Specifically, I remember late in the fourth quarter they did a dive flick to Sony Michel and I was one-on-one with him, and I remember missing that tackle," he said. "That could have been a tackle for loss. He ended up getting like two or three yards and got the first down.
“So that's something that has stuck with me, something that I'm looking to improve upon. Hopefully, when I'm put in that position again, I can be able to make that play.”
Like his teammates, Hayes knows they will deal with some setbacks in Athens this Saturday night. However, the “road warrior” mentality that has been cultivated all off season for this type of outing is expected to take hold.
“Being able to start fast and be able to face adversity,” replied Hayes of what defines a road warrior. “Coach Kelly has no doubt about our attack — but it's what happens when you get punched back. When you're punching it and this guy gets a good shot in, you've got to face that adversity on the road. You’ve got to be able to keep going and keep preserving.”
It would be a microcosm of Hayes’ football career, which is just beginning to flourish.
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