Pitt DL Dayon Hayes Making Changes for Breakout Season
PITTSBURGH -- You want to a breakout candidate on Pitt's defensive line this season? The answer is junior defensive lineman Dayon Hayes.
Hayes finally started to put everything together at the end of last season, collecting three sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in the Panthers' final three games. The 6-foot-3, 275-pound lineman has everything you'd look for at the NFL level, but he's still got time left at Pitt.
And this season, he's recognizing his potential.
"I'm starting to come into the game. Understanding and believing in my position. I'm starting to get it now, I feel like I'm becoming a vet. Understanding the defense, making plays through the defense."
Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge notices it too.
"What’s fun for me is now (Hayes is) putting together effort and technique and knowledge," Partridge said. "When you combine those three things as a defensive lineman, you have a chance for a lot of success, and he’s shown a lot more signs of doing all three of those things in the first five practices. He’s really elevated his game."
On-field effort isn't the only difference for Hayes this season. The defensive lineman said he recently changed his diet after spending most of last season as a vegan.
"It was hard. I was going to my grandma's and she was making steak," Hayes laughed. "It was just too hard. None of my family eats like that."
Hayes isn't guaranteed a starting job this season. The Panthers have a number of players like Deslin Alexandre and John Morgan who will render offenses useless, but Hayes will still get his.
Many predict No. 50 could be in for a double-digit sack season, which won't come without extra time put into his game. And in what will be his most important season yet, Hayes is up for the challenge.
"Honestly, my mindset was messed up at the beginning. I was really counting my plays and not making my plays count," Hayes said. "So, those last five games, I told myself make my plays count when I'm in."
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