Daelin Hayes A Crucial Cog To Notre Dame's Pass Rush
Blue & Gold Illustrated
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Spring game statistics cannot be taken with a grain of salt. A sack of the NaCl would be more fitting in many cases.
Nevertheless, the performance of Fighting Irish sophomore defensive end Daelin Hayes in first-year coordinator Mike Elko’s system during Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game was plenty salty, and came with its share of sacks, too. (The Irish collectively recorded 11 "tag" sacks, albeit a few debatable, which nearly matched the 14 total during last year's 4-8 season.)
Consistently a disruptive force off the edge, Hayes’ seven solo tackles were a team high, as were his four stops lost yardage, three of them sacks (although one was a designed run by the QB). Those three sacks by him matched the entire total of Notre Dame’s defensive line last season (two by Jarron Jones and one by Isaac Rochell, both of whom have graduated) that ranked last among Football Bowl Subdivision Power 5 Conference schools.
“I think it's pretty clear that Daelin Hayes is going to be around the football and be a disruptive player for us,” summarized Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly after the game.
Hayes’ explosiveness off the edge was more evident going up against highly promising but fledgling classmate/tackle Tommy Kraemer, but he’s also competed well all spring, relatively speaking, against 6-8 fifth-year senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey, a potential future first-round pick who was a third-team All-American last year.
“Daelin is a man that is blessed with a lot of size and athletic ability that presents a lot of problems for people,” McGlinchey said. “He’s so young and he has so much still to work on, but it’s pretty cool to see what he is capable of and what he’s going to be down the road.
“Daelin is going to get better and better as he continues to stick to the process of conditioning, strength growth, position growth and just studying the game. He’s going to be a phenomenal player for us and he’s going to have a big role for us this fall. We need to see more of the same improvement that we’ve seen all spring from Daelin.”
In Notre Dame’s past four recruiting cycles, the Fighting Irish have signed only two five-star prospects: senior guard Quenton Nelson — a third-team AP All-American as a junior and maybe the No. 1 prospect at his position in the 2018 NFL Draft — and the sculpted, explosive 6-3 ¾, 255-pound Hayes.
Ravaged by shoulder injuries (he’s had three such surgeries) and other setbacks in high school, Hayes’ first goal as a 2016 freshman at Notre Dame was to demonstrate he can stay healthy for a full season while also assimilating well with teammates. He accomplished that while finishing with 155 defensive snaps (13 per game), 11 tackles, a pass deflection (resulting in an interception) and a forced fumble.
“I didn’t think that was possible,” said Hayes with a grin of finishing a full football season. “I’m grateful for the experience.”
It was in football camps mainly where Hayes’ physical skills were so conspicuous that football analysts couldn’t help but give him that fifth star. However, Hayes shies away from talking about his rating.
“That’s high school,” Hayes said. “It doesn’t matter now. That’s for the media. Every day is just a learning experience and just continue to grow and let my game progress. I’m definitely not putting that pressure on myself. I understand my role.
“Today is not where we want to be. We have a long way to go and a lot of things to improve upon. … I just take the process and buy into the system and understanding my role. I want to continue to grow upon that.
“I see my role as just being a guy who does my job and does it well for my teammates. Just trusting that process. I know the coaches will put me in a position to make plays, and that’s my job.”
Since 2004, Hayes is the sixth Rivals.com five-star player on defense to sign with Notre Dame. Two of them won the Butkus Award (Manti Te’o and Jaylon Smith) and a third made first-team All-America as a sophomore on a 12-1 team (lineman Stephon Tuitt, who recorded 12 sacks). Two others did not pan out (end Ishaq Williams and safety Max Redfield).
On a defense in search of game-changing talent, the Irish need Hayes to fulfill his immense potential on the edge to provide a needed edge.
“This was a really great spring for him,” Kelly said. “For Coach (Elko) to lay down a great base of learning, and I think he did a terrific job of a player really buying into that and not getting too far ahead of himself.”
Hayes' role requires multiple skills, including dropping into coverage on occasion (he is listed as the "drop end" after all), setting the edge on running plays while taking on and shedding blocks, and serving as a cog on the pass rush. His rapidly improving development this spring has come from myriad factors.
One, although his weight remains in the 250-255 range, his body fat dropped from 18 percent to 10 percent under new strength and conditioning coordinator Matt Balis.
“Oh my gosh,” he replied when asked about Balis' impact. “… I’m not the same athlete that I was when I first came in by any means.”
Two, he has embraced the changes and simplification in Elko’s defense.
“There was definitely a yearning for change,” Hayes said. “When you have basically a reboot as a program, and the guys are hungry and they don’t want to experience the same season from last year. … The guys were kind of hungry to cling on and buy into it.”
Three, he has cleared the mental hurdle of his past shoulder problems.
“I think there’s always a little apprehension when you come off an injury, but that’s just part of the game,” Hayes said. "When I came here, there were great physical therapists … I’m at a place right now where I feel pretty good.”
Four, he developed a routine during winter conditioning and spring drills where he lives by the mantra, “how you do anything is how you do everything.” He also has become a greater student of the game by watching film in which he’s detected a discernible difference on how he now has “more twitch” when he plays.
“When you don’t want to do anything … when you push through that wall is when you’re able to separate yourself,” said Hayes of not giving into the temptation to rest on any laurels.
Five is having what he refers to as “a coachable mind-set,” so he can “professionalize my work.”
Finally, going up daily against a McGlinchey can be humbling, but also rewarding in the long run.
“I don’t think there was a point where it was overwhelming,” said Hayes, who is still awed by the captain’s stature. “I’ve always been a competitor. … It makes me better every day. You go and do that with a guy [like that] in practice every day, when the game scenario comes it’s like second nature. If you can do this in practice, then you can definitely do this whenever.”
All those factors are helping Hayes actualize his potential.
“When he gets to that first game I think you’re going to see a player that’s improved dramatically because he’s really paid attention,” Kelly said.
One of the common threads with most of Notre Dame’s champions or such contenders the past half century has been a dominant pass-rushing force in the 4-3 or 3-4, be it Alan Page (1966), Ross Browner (1973 and 1977), Frank Stams (1988), Bryant Young (1993) or Tuitt in 2012.
No one on the current Irish team is better equipped for such a role than Hayes, but his primary goals are not about his own data or potential glory.
“I want to be a great teammate and do everything in my power to help my team win a national championship,” he said.
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