Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
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92 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW wouldn't change their minds, Ogundeji quickly changed his mind and decommitted from West- ern Michigan and pledged to Notre Dame. "The school has so much tradition and so many great people here," he explained. "The fans are great. Students are great. The faculty's great. I definitely couldn't say no to this place." Ogundeji arrived at Notre Dame in 2016 as a spindly 6-5, 211-pound 17-year-old with barely five years of football experience. "I was just getting used to the game," re- called Ogundeji, who lost even more develop- mental time in high school when a knee injury stole most of his senior season. "I guess I was at the bottom." Yet, there was something about Ogundeji that kept Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly invested and engaged in his project player, dat- ing all the way back to their recruiting court- ship. Kelly never doubted that Ogundeji would eventually arrive, even if the train might be delayed getting to the station. "We saw that kind of personality that he wanted to be great," Kelly explained. "Every- thing that he wanted to do was to be successful in the classroom, to be successful on the foot- ball field, to be successful in life. We saw that passion in him." Kelly calls Ogundeji, now 6-5 and 252 pounds, a model case study of what coaching attention and player persistence can create, and how recruiting rankings aren't always gospel. "And a great indication," Kelly added, "that you can be somebody who develops within the program, and not be ready made, and still be an impact player." Ogundeji started to make an impact toward the end of the 2019 campaign, after Okwara suffered a season-ending injury in game nine. The late-bloomer finished the season with 34 stops, 7.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks — with all the quarterback takedowns coming in Notre Dame's final three contests. Ogundeji finished with the second-best overall defensive grade (82.2) on the team per Pro Football Focus. Greatness Awaits Following a much different career path to a fifth year at Notre Dame compared to Ogunde- ji's bottom-up ladder approach, Hayes started at the top, slipped down and now finds himself fighting to be on top again. Hayes' eight-year journey to this point has been a unique one, both during his high school years and while at Notre Dame. As the highest rated recruit on the Notre Dame roster as a true freshman in 2016, Hayes appeared in all 12 games as a backup and re- corded 11 tackles. But his story is best picked up in 2017 — at least the Notre Dame portion — when he became a starter as a sophomore and put his career on the fast-track with 30 tackles, 6.5 stops for loss and 3.0 sacks. With career momentum fitting neatly with his five-star expectations, Hayes was expected to enjoy a breakout year as a junior in 2018, and perhaps even make his move to the NFL after that season. Instead, Hayes regressed and recorded only five total tackles in his first six games that season, notably four contests with no stops and little impact. Self-doubt stirred alongside self-induced pressure and sent Hayes into what he still calls a "funk." "Just keep going through it," Hayes ex- plained of this turbulent time. "Keep your preparation as consistent as possible. The storm will let up eventually." The coaches tried to keep Hayes' confidence high. His family did what it could. The Irish teammates offered unyielding support. But because Hayes remains his own harshest critic, the internal burden to improve became his and only his to bear. "In my mind, I have always had this cloud of expectation," Hayes admitted. "If I play with that over my head, that mental baggage, it takes away from my game. That is something that I've had to overcome." Hayes responded, pulled out of his funk Ogundeji came on strong at the end of the 2019 season, recording all 4.5 of his sacks in the final three contests and posting the second-best overall defensive grade (82.2) on the team per Pro Football Focus. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS