The Cardinal Countdown: 33 Days Until Kickoff

#33 Isaiah Hayes

Class: RS Senior

Ht/Wt: 6-1-/208

Position: Defensive Back

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Twitter: @Hayes_Era30

Thoughts: Hayes was a grad transfer from the University of Arizona who joined the Cards before last season and had two seasons of eligibility left after taking a medical redshirt his sophomore year. Unfortunately for Hayes, while it appeared he was going to be an immediate contributor in 2019 he suffered another injury in the fall and was forced to watch the secondary from the bench the first chunk of the season.

Hayes worked his way back off the injury and actually saw time in nine games last season, slowly getting a few reps here and there and then eventually working his way back to becoming a starter the last couple games of the year taking over for the injured Russ Yeast. Now, with the departure of Khane Pass to graduation Hayes will have an opportunity to use his experience to maintain that starters role.

I really liked Khane Pass and thought he was a bit underappreciated during his time here as a four-year guy. Hayes will have a tough time filling that spot but his tackling in open space is consistent, his coverage skills are solid enough to prevent getting sliced up downfield, and he has the speed to protect a significant chunk of the field. The big question mark for Hayes will be his ability to remain healthy for a full season, something we really haven’t since his freshman year at Arizona in 2016.

Sweet Tweet:

When the ACC had their “meeting of the minds” this week there was no time for chit chat....just putting together a plan to play sports this fall. Now we just need a definitive start date so if someone was hypothetically counting the number of days until kickoff they could, ya know, be accurate with said number... hypothetically.