Dayon Hayes Commits to Deion Sanders, Colorado in Transfer Portal After Pitt Stint

Former Pittsburgh edge-rusher Dayon Hayes has committed to Colorado, according to Hayes Fawcett of On3.

Hayes had 45 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and four sacks as a fourth-year senior in 2023. In explaining his decision to enter the transfer portal, he pointed to his lack of belief in Pitt's short-term fortunes.

"It's just that I don't believe we can win now," he said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Christopher Carter. "I believe we [were going to] win games, but I believe we are [in] a developmental stage. And I just can't do that right now."

For the second successive offseason, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and his staff have witnessed significant personnel changes through the transfer portal. How the roster turnover is getting framed this year is a little different from his first season in charge, though.

Reinforcements were clearly needed after the Buffaloes went 1-11 and were the worst Power Five team in the country in 2022. To go through the same process again — albeit to a slightly lesser scale — is raising some obvious questions.

The program isn't strengthening through traditional means, either. It sits 95th in 247Sports' composite team rankings for the 2024 high school recruiting class.

Sanders, for his part, minimized the impact the talent exodus has had:

Getting after the quarterback wasn't a glaring issue for the Buffs in 2023. They tied for 53rd in sacks, averaging 2.25 per game. But outside linebacker Jordan Domineck is gone after he was the team co-leader in the category.

Hayes brings plenty of experience and a little more consistency to the edge. He took the QB down 13 times in his four-year run at Pitt.

His commitment to Colorado represents a strong endorsement of Sanders' vision given the comments he made on his way out in the Steel City. He clearly believes the Buffs are headed for a turnaround following a 4-8 finish that blunted some of the optimism they had generated earlier in the campaign.

The Buffs also landed a commitment from former Ohio defensive lineman Rayyan Buell on Sunday, he told Fawcett.