Notre Dame’s Daelin Hayes Named To Sporting News Preseason All-America Team
One of the five outlets that determines consensus All-America status is predicting a big senior year for one Notre Dame edge player.
Sporting News named Irish defensive end Daelin Hayes a second-team preseason All-American Thursday. He was the only Notre Dame player on either of its two teams.
Hayes returned to Notre Dame for his fifth year and is the projected starter at the “vyper” defensive end spot. He played in Notre Dame’s first four games of 2019 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury on Sept. 28 against Virginia. He had three tackles for loss and one sack while rotating in with Julian Okwara.
With Okwara now on the Detroit Lions, Hayes is the heavy favorite to earn the starting job and the bulk of the work at vyper. He’s a respected team leader and a likely team captain this season.
Hayes played in 37 of a possible 38 games from 2016-18. He was a 12-game starter in 2017, but moved into a rotational role in 2018. He had 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks in his first three seasons. Three of those sacks came in 2017.
To fulfill Sporting News’ lofty projection, Hayes will have to shake injury issues that once appeared behind him after a high school career full of them. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in Notre Dame’s 2016 class and has been a reliable run defender. His pass-rush impact, though, has been limited. Raising his play as a rusher will help his NFL Draft stock and boost his chances at postseason awards.
Sporting News is the second outlet to name Hayes a preseason All-American. Street & Smith’s gave him second-team honors earlier in June.
Three other defensive lineman joined Hayes on Sporting News’ second team: Miami defensive end Quincy Roche, Wake Forest defensive end Carlos Basham Jr. and Florida interior lineman Tedarrell Slaton. The first team defensive line was comprised of Miami’s Gregory Rousseau (edge player), Pitt’s Jaylen Twyman (interior line), Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux (edge) and Florida State’s Marvin Wilson (interior).
All told, Notre Dame will face nine players on Sporting News’ two preseason All-America teams.
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