Former Pitt DE Dayon Hayes Commits to Colorado

Originally posted on Pittsburgh Sports Now
By Karl Ludwig | Last updated 4/21/24

There was an expectation among Pitt fans that Dayon Hayes and Samuel Okunlola were going to enter the 2024 season as the starting defensive end duo. They’re both now at Colorado.

Hayes — a 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive from Westinghouse in officially announced his commitment to Colorado Sunday afternoon via X (formerly known as Twitter). He joins Okunlola, who committed to the Buffs in December, in playing for head coach Deion Sanders.

Hayes told On3 Sports’ Hayes Fawcett, “How can I stay humble if I’m hungry?”

I WANT IT ALL #SkoBuffs #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/rUMt2FFzgG

— DayonHayes (@dayonhayes00) April 21, 2024

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 in Colorado now.

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, Zach Crothers Maverick Gracio.

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

Hayes, linebacker Solomon DeShields (who has taken an official visit to Texas A&M), quarterback Christian Veilleux and defensive end Antonio Camon have entered the portal from Pitt so far this spring. The roster is still too large, and there’s a desire to add further players from the portal, so there will be more Panthers who leave this spring.

This article first appeared on Pittsburgh Sports Now and was syndicated with permission.

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