Pitt DE Dayon Hayes Immediately Turned to Tim Daoust for Help

Dayon Hayes is a bit of an enigma. He has the look of an NFL defensive end, standing at 6-foot-3, 260 pounds, but hasn’t always played like one, which makes those flashes of brilliance so frustrating.

Hayes — a fifth-year senior from Pittsburgh, who attended Westinghouse in the city — is the leader of the Pitt defensive line unit. He’s the most talented, too. But he has so much room to grow — and he’s always looking to get better. New defensive line coach Tim Daoust learned that immediately.

Daoust hasn’t known Hayes long. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but Hayes — upon learning that Daoust was replacing Charlie Partridge as the Pitt defensive line coach — hit him up immediately.

“Our first conversation, as soon as Duzz hired me, get on the phone with him, and he said, ‘Hey, what do I gotta do? What do you see? What do I gotta do to get better?’ Credit to him, Day 1 in the books, and we gotta keep working away,” Daoust said Monday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “But a lot of abilities out there, big, strong kid. Obviously, an older guy, a lot of experience, played a lot of ball — now he and I get on the same page. If we’re gonna have a great season here and a great defense, it’s gonna start up front.”

#H2P 📍 https://t.co/94vfciYhYC

— DayonHayes (@dayonhayes00) March 4, 2024

Daoust has been studying the room, and he likes what he sees from the defensive ends and the tackles. But Hayes? “Dayon in particular, wow,” Daoust said. “Lots of ability.” Lots of ability — and lots left to unlock.

Hayes finished the 2023 season with 45 tackles (25 solo), 10.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, a forced fumble, four pass breakups and a lot of pressures, hurries and quarterback hits despite the relatively low sack totals. Hayes was better than his individual statistics indicated last season, and he should — likely — be able to capitalize upon his end-of-season success.

Hayes first announced his intentions to return to Pitt after a standout performance against Boston College last month.

He finished the night with six tackles (five solo), three tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups and a quarterback hit — and it might just have been the launchpad he needed for one more season. Does Hayes have unfinished business at Pitt?

“Yeah, I do,” he said after the Boston College game last season. “I ain’t leaving yet.”

Hayes, who has slowly developed during his time at Pitt (entering his fifth season now), has shown flashes. He’s looked like the next great Pitt pass rusher at times, and he’s looked like something entirely different at others. It became clear at the end of last season that he isn’t the type of player to leave his goals unfinished.

The expectation this season is to bounce back from a disastrous 3-9 season, and the defensive line unit — even without Charlie Partridge — has extremely high goals on its own. Daoust has seen how his players have handled business early this offseason, arriving early and leaving late, but it’s Hayes who is bringing guys together.

It’s a sign of Hayes’ growth, striving for that level of maturity and consistency that Partridge — and Hayes’ past teammates — have preached over the last couple of seasons. It’s been on Hayes to reach for it himself — on and off the field.

Daoust is looking forward to helping Hayes realize his immense potential on the football field.

“You see the ups and downs on the film, you see some flashes, you say, ‘Wow, you should be at the Combine,’ and we’ll be talking about him in a different light this time next year,” Daoust said. “And then I see some other things where he’s probably a little bit embarrassed and probably lost mentally than he was physically.

“So, I think telling him being present in every meeting, in every weightlifting session — And I say present, I’m talking about his mentals, be present in every rep that you’re in. And I think we’ll have a special year if we can get that done.”

Pitt will need all it can get from Hayes in 2024. The tackles for loss and sacks were missing, but it just wasn’t the dominant pass rush that the Panthers have been known for over the last half-decade. Hayes is due for a big season in 2024, and it will start with how he’s able to grow with Daoust this offseason.

Hayes set a goal for 10 tackles for loss and 10 sacks before the 2023 season. He wasn’t able to reach both of those numbers. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to do so in 2024, but it’s a good bet that he’ll set his sights even higher.