Hayes eager to get started

Former WSSU star will go to minicamp for Titans this week

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By John Dell | Journal Reporter

Published: April 29, 2008

William Hayes knows that being drafted by the Tennessee Titans means more work. That's just fine with him.

"By no means am I going to rest," said Hayes, who went to work out Sunday afternoon after learning that he had been selected in the fourth round. "I've had this chip on my shoulder for a long time to prove people wrong, and it will stay right there."

Hayes will take part in a minicamp in Nashville starting Thursday with other draft picks and players the Titans signed as free agents.

The Titans traded up 21 spots for the pick they used on Hayes, a 6-2, 260-pound defensive end, and that gives Hayes some confidence. He was the 103rd player taken.

"He was a very fast-rising prospect," Coach Jeff Fisher of the Titans said. "We feel like William can come in and help us immediately."

Hayes led the Rams with 81/2 sacks last season and also forced seven fumbles and recovered four. He was second on the team with 78 tackles despite facing constant double-teams.

Hayes said that even though he played at a small school, he is intent on proving that he can play in the NFL. He dominated often last season, including a game against Florida A&M when he helped WSSU to a win by returning a fumble for a touchdown.

Fisher said he watched the WSSU-Florida A&M game on DVD and that some of the Titans' scouts went to a WSSU practice in late July.

"It was about 113 degrees in Winston-Salem, and they were out there practicing," Fisher said. "You just saw a kid that was busting his butt. You could just see he had some skills."

Hayes is one of the highest draft picks to come out Winston-Salem State and the first Ram drafted since 1996, when Richard Huntley went in the fourth round, at No. 117 overall.

Based on the contract numbers of players drafted early in the fourth round last year, Hayes could be in position for a four-year contract worth just more than $2 million. There also could be a signing bonus. Ray Brownell, Hayes' agent, said that the Titans and the New York Giants were the teams trying to move up to draft Hayes.

"I think it was the defensive-line coach at Tennessee, but he told William that the Giants were about to make a trade to move up and take William, but Tennessee made the move and landed him," Brownell said.

Brownell said that Hayes most likely will sign in early June and that he will attend minicamps and continue to work out until then.

When asked what he might do with his first paycheck, Hayes was quick with a reply.

"I'll probably put it in the bank," he said.

"I'm definitely not a big spender."

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.

Titans think they have a steal in ‘Big Play’ Hayes
By Terry McCormick, tmccormick@nashvillecitypaper.com

Titans think they have a steal in ‘Big Play’ Hayes | William Hayes, Jeff Fisher, Cole Proctor, Jim Washburn

The Titans think they have a steal in Winston-Salem State's William Hayes. Courtesy of Winston-Salem State
The draftniks are out in full force, scrutinizing every pick by every team from the weekend’s NFL Draft.

Perhaps no pick was more out of the blue than the Tennessee Titans’ choice of William Hayes in the fourth-round out of Winston-Salem State.

Few outside those whose job it is to find NFL talent had heard much about Hayes. When his name was first announced, those of us in the media room immediately thought of the movie, Major League, and Wesley Snipes’ character of Willie Mays Hayes. After all, the Titans did say they were going to go after speed in this draft.

Their decision to not only draft Hayes, but to move up 21 spots to get him caused a few of the talking heads to scratch their heads instead. On ESPN, the draft analysis crew had to scramble as the NFL did not have Hayes’ bio among the fingertip information provided to them for comment.

But the Titans readily defended their choice, saying he has special pass-rushing skills and natural speed that all teams covet in a pass rusher.

A STAR DISCOVERED

“He was a very fast rising prospect,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. “We feel like William can come in and help us immediately at the end position. Despite the fact that he came from a smaller school, he has some skills that are rare — his hand use, his explosion, his quickness, his effort, his change of direction.”

If that’s the case, then a fourth-round pick might end up being a major bargain. You need only to rewatch the Super Bowl and see the pressure the New York Giants got off the edge in upsetting New England to know how valuable a speed rusher can be.

Hayes, regarded as a high-motor guy, caught Titans scout Cole Proctor’s attention way back in two-a-days of summer.

“We went in for two-a-days back in late July and it was about 113 degrees in Winston-Salem and they were out there practicing,” Proctor recalled. “You just saw a kid that was busting his butt. You could just see he had some skills and you opened your eyes and said you will be back in October after they played some ballgames.

“I went back in and the coach, they had an open week, and he gave three DVDs because he couldn’t be there and he left them for me. I took them back to the hotel and only one worked. It was Florida A&M and it was one of his best games. So I definitely had to get back and look at some more.”

SECRET GETS OUT

The Titans believed they possibly had a late-round diamond in the rough — until Hayes went to a pro day at nearby Wake Forest and ran a 4.61 time in the 40-yard dash. As well, talk was starting to get out among the teams Winston-Salem had played that they needed to take a look at the young man nicknamed “Big Play” Hayes.

“The workout really perked up a lot of teams,” Proctor said. “As soon as he ran that 4.61 40 there were guys with their cell phones that hadn’t been to two-a-days and that stuff. They were over on the side and calling in. It was unbelievable.”

Said Hayes of the workout, “I had a chip on my shoulder. I had to go out and prove that I could compete and that I could play just as good as anybody in the nation.”

So by draft time, as many as a half dozen other teams, including division rivals Indianapolis and Jacksonville, were suddenly interested in a player who had been so obscure for so long. Mel Kiper, usually on top of anyone draft-eligible that has a pulse, even said Hayes was an undrafted free agent in his book.

HAYES HAS HIS FANS

“I am the one to prove the doubters wrong,” Hayes said. “You are never going to see me stop working. Nothing is going to stop my shine. I am ready to come down there and get to work and prove everybody, Mel Kiper and everybody else that had something negative to say, wrong. Its time to go to work now.”

But here is something that should tell you all you need to know about Hayes and the pick. Defensive line coach Jim Washburn is a crusty type who isn’t afraid to give an honest and even a blunt opinion of a player, was said to be ecstatic to have Hayes.

And Hayes is ecstatic to be a Titan and play for Washburn, as the two had already established a pre-draft relationship.

“Oh, that’s my main man,” Hayes said. “I try to have a conversation with him at least once a week.”

Good luck

"The Titans"

quote:

“I went back in and the coach, they had an open week, and he gave three DVDs because he couldn’t be there and he left them for me. I took them back to the hotel and only one worked. It was Florida A&M and it was one of his best games. So I definitely had to get back and look at some more.”

What up with HBCU and their bad videos. The same was said about Tennessee State's videos by scouts.