Dayon Hayes Locks in Colorado and USC Official Visits

Dayon Hayes officially hit the transfer portal this week, and he had no shortage of interest upon leaving Pitt, but he’s narrowed down his focus a little bit.

Hayes told On3 Sports he’s scheduled two official visits: USC from April 19-21 and Colorado from April 21-22.

Hayes told Pittsburgh Sports Now Wednesday that he heard from Baylor, Colorado, Colorado State, Duke, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Penn State, Syracuse, Texas A&M, UCF, USC, Virginia and Washington upon hitting the portal.

Pitt — Pat Narduzzi in particular — has history with USC and Colorado, particularly with USC head coach Lincoln Riley and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders.

Hayes initially announced his intentions to return to Pitt after a standout performance against Boston College in November.

He finished the night with six tackles (five solo), three tackles for loss, two sacks, two pass breakups and a quarterback hit — putting in his best performance of the season in the final game at Acrisure Stadium. And then he announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) in December that he would return again.

But now that he’s hit the transfer portal, Hayes will not be returning to Pitt.

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, but he will attempt to realize that full potential elsewhere.

He finished his Pitt career with 81 tackles (45 solo), 26.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, three forced fumbles and five pass breakups.

Pitt revamped the defensive line room over the winter, adding Nate Matlack and David Ojiegbe, but it’s still a very inexperienced unit that features Jimmy Scott, Bam Brima, Sincere Edwards, Antonio Camon, Zach Crothers Maverick Gracio.

Pitt will likely need to readdress defensive end in the transfer portal now.