WSSU's Hayes, Titans agree to contract

Defensive end William Hayes, a fourth-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans and a former star at Winston-Salem State, has agreed to a four-year contract. Hayes, a High Point native and the first Rams' draft pick since 1993, was hoping to be signed before training camp for the Titans opens on Saturday. Hayes will report to training camp on Friday.

"I'm actually signing (on Tuesday) but the deal is done," Hayes said Monday afternoon just as he was about to work out at Winston-Salem State with former teammate, Jason Holman. "I guess my celebration is I'm working out to get ready for the start of camp."

Hayes, 23, said that the details of the contract have been hammered out over the last few days. He didn't know how much the deal was worth but it's believed to be a total package of...

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Ex-WSSU lineman Hayes finds time to give back

William Hayes is in the very early stages of what he hopes will be a successful NFL career but he is also finding time to focus on helping others.

Hayes, a former star at High Point Andrews and Winston-Salem State, was a fourth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in April's NFL Draft. He will speak in Jamestown next week, talking about his life on and off the football field in a speech titled "Making the Right Choices."

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WSSU's William Hayes selected 4th Rd., #103 by Tennessee Titans

Photo: Tennessee Titans draftee William Hayes, DE, 4th Round, #103 of the NFL 2008 Draft.

Tennessee traded away its fifth-rounder to move up and draft defensive end William Hayes at the start of the fourth.

PRESS CONFERENCE AT BAPTIST SPORTS PARK
FOLLOWING THE SELECTIONS OF CRAIG STEVENS AND WILLIAM HAYES

Titans Coach Jeff Fisher....

And then what we did was trade this year’s five to Washington to move up from 124 up to 103 and that got us in position to have an opportunity to draft William [Hayes]. We had William in, looked at William. The entire scouting staff looked at William over the last couple of days and the coaches and there is a lot of interest out there despite the early reports of what you may have read and so on and so forth. He was a very fast rising prospect. 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. We feel like William can help us right off the bat and the end position.

The kid had a great workout. He worked out with Wake Forest over there and [Jeremy] Thompson went just before him. He weighed 270 pounds and ran a 4.61 40. He had a good workout and he has natural skills. I don’t care what level he played on. He stands out as far as his hand skills and the things he does, leverage.

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WSSU's Hayes eager to see if he gets drafted

Archive Photo: Winston Salem State University William Hayes awaits NFL draft selection, possibly on Sunday in Rounds 4 thru 7.

This is a big week for William Hayes, a defensive end from Winston-Salem State. Hayes has been poked and prodded and asked plenty of unusual questions by NFL scouts and assistant coaches. In the process, he has learned a lot about the NFL. "Oh, definitely I've found out that it's all business," Hayes said.

He has had visits with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts, and a scout for the Atlanta Falcons was on campus yesterday to talk with Hayes one more time.

Hayes, a 6-2, 272-pounder and a graduate of High Point Andrews High, started at WSSU for four seasons. He led the team with 8.5 sacks last season and was second in tackles with 78. Earlier this month, he ran a very good 40-yard dash time for scouts, 4.62 seconds.

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NFL Draft Prospect Interview: William Hayes, DE/OLB, Winston Salem State University

WSSU’s Hayes Restores Human Element to Draft Process

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.

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