Pitt transfer EDGE Dayon Hayes set to visit USC, Colorado this weekend

Pitt transfer EDGE Dayon Hayes is set to visit USC and Colorado this weekend, he tells On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

The top available EDGE in the transfer portal, Hayes will visit USC first on April 19-21, and will turn right around for his visit to Colorado from April 21-22.

The Pittsburgh, PA native played in 12 games last season for the Panthers, recording eleven starts. Hayes put up career-highs this season, recording 45 total tackles, 25 solo, 10.5 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, four passes defended, and one fumble. As a Panther, he totaled 81 tackles, including 44 solo, 25.5 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks over a 39-game span.

Hayes was the first Pittsburgh player to declare their intention to depart from the program via the transfer portal since the start of the Panthers’ spring practice.

Before college, Hayes played high school football at Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh, PA. He was listed as a four-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Hayes was the nation’s No. 266 recruit, ranked 33 among defensive linemen, and was the third-best player to come out of the state of Pennsylvania in his class.

The 6-foot-3 defensive lineman will have his pick of the litter when it comes to suitors out of the transfer portal. Miami, along with a slew of other teams have reached out to the former Panther. He will undoubtedly elevate any defense he plays on.

As of this report, USC has the No. 39 transfer portal class in the country. However, the Trojans are using traditional high school recruiting to counter this as USC holds a top-20 recruiting class in the country, per On3’s rankings.

Meanwhile, Colorado has been on a roll in the portal this year, as expected. They sit at No. 2 behind top-ranked Louisville. Losing a whopping 31 players to the transfer portal as of this report, Deion Sanders and company have done well to patch those holes with 25 incoming transfers. Adding Hayes to that list would be huge for Coach Prime and company.

Regardless of his decision, it likely won’t come until after these two visits. Whether he decides to add more schools to his visit list remains to to be seen.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.