NFL Draft Prospect Interview: William Hayes. WSSU’s Hayes Restores Human Element to Draft Process

NFL Draft Prospect Interview: William Hayes, DE/OLB, WSSU
WSSU’s Hayes Restores Human Element to Draft Process
by Jared Donnelly
NFL Draft Analyst
3/4/08
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nt size="-1">So often in today’s world of the NFL Draft, we focus so much on the who and what that we know when it comes to prospects. Things like height, weight, and 40 yard dash time sometimes take the place of the person in the eyes of talent evaluators like others and myself. In this wild dash to get the workout warrior or the guy who played at the powerhouse university with the household name for a head coach, we can lose sight of players from smaller universities with big hearts and big game. Some could argue that this is what has led to NFL GMs passing up guys like Jerry Rice. Granted not everyone that we don’t know about today will project to be great NFL players, but some do have a very good chance. I recently had an opportunity to speak with one such “Small School” player. Remember the name I am about to give you: William “Big Play” Hayes.

Hayes is a bit of a hybrid at the DE/SAM LB position out of little known Winston-Salem State University. Don’t let the Small School label fool you though. Hayes is a big man with big game who doesn’t mind carrying the stigma around with him. “It definitely puts a chip on your shoulders” Hayes said of coming from a smaller school. I asked him if he thought that it helped or hurt him to have that sort of label. Hayes was resolute in responding, “It can help you though because it creates a sense of urgency about your workouts. You know that you have to work that much harder to get people’s respect.” Hayes added that “a lot of times, scouts are really focused on strength of schedule and who you played. To me though, that doesn’t really matter because some of the best NFL players have come from smaller schools and obviously succeeded. I don’t worry about it. I just go out and work hard. I mean, if I had gone to Virginia Tech or Miami or something like that, people would be talking about me as a second round pick right now. One thing I can bring is a good pass rush right out of the gate. And I understand the position. When a team lines up I know at least what they like to do out of that formation. That comes from listening to coaches and breaking down films.”

Part of what some NFL GMs don’t like about what they call “hybrids” is that sometimes, they don’t have a real position. I asked Hayes where he would most like to play and being the hardnosed competitor that he is, his answer did not surprise me. “I definitely want to play defensive end. I have been playing it longer and I am more comfortable there.” It takes a true warrior of the gridiron to prefer standing in against 300lb men and going nose to nose with them instead of standing up as a linebacker and sometimes being able to avoid them. Do not misunderstand though; Hayes knows that he may have to do some standing up. “I have heard that a lot of teams want to make me a SAM (strong side linebacker) in the 3-4 defense. That would be fine too because I am quick and being a down linemen or a standup rusher in the 3-4 are sort of the same position.” Hayes certainly has the size and quickness to excel at both positions. He weighs in at 272 pounds on his 6 foot 2 inch frame. Oh, and as for his 40 time? 4.6. That is the same time that Ohio State standout and potentially top 5 pick Vernon Gholston ran at the combine. That size and speed would come in handy if he ever gets a chance to play the position he told me he would play if he wasn’t on defense. “Tight end” Hayes said with a laugh. I asked him “so you have good hands then?” the laugh disappeared and with 100% seriousness he responded, “I have great hands, sir. Great hands”

Despite all of the strengths that all prospects have, there is no such thing as a perfect prospect and Hayes understands that as well. “I have been working on my explosiveness and getting faster. I have also done some hands drills so that when linemen get out and get their hands on me, I can get them off me just as quick.” He also noted that while he does know the position, he could use some work on his technique. “Being technically sounds is probably something that I need to work on a little bit more. At WSSU we didn’t really focus on my technique as much. They basically just let me use my raw talent to get where I needed to go. I do have some technique, but I could definitely get better there.” Hayes also said, as if to prove he understood how the whole process works “I know there’s a lot of work for me to do technically. I know that. I am a quick learner though. A very quick learner.”
We got down to business and started talking about the common buzzwords that so many scouts and evaluators live and die by this time of year. I asked him about the combine and he told me that he didn’t go but “heard there were a bunch of teams asking where I was. Some teams were disappointed I wasn’t there. Also, for some reason, there was a rumor going around that I only weighed 240 so that was scaring some people off. But I promise, I am definitely 270 pounds.” Despite missing the combine, Hayes assured me that he would still be getting some looks from teams. “I have my pro-day at Wake Forest and I am looking forward to that. Also, my agent says I have about four workouts for teams coming up. I’m excited.”

When pressed to disclose interested teams, Hayes responded, “I don’t think I can talk about that. My agent might not like that.” And then he said something that proves what kind of human being and athlete he is. “Sorry” he said. He didn’t have to apologize to the somewhat pushy journalist, but he did. Not only did that prove that William understands how this whole process works, he also understands that despite people being reduced to numbers, they were, after all, still people.

I told Hayes to pretend like I was an NFL GM and give me one thing to remember him by amongst all of the other prospects I would be seeing. “Drafting me will be the best thing you’ve ever done. No regrets.” How can you argue with that?

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