In the months of June and July, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2019 roster.
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No. 14 Kaleb Hayes
Bio
6-foot-1, 189 pounds
Cornerback
Redshirt Sophomore
San Bernadino, Calif.
San Gorgonio HS
2018 stats
- Played in all 12 games, making eight starts
- Finished with 44 tackles, two quarterback hurries and eight pass breakups
- Credited with at least two tackles in all 12 games
- Recorded a season-best five tackles at Arizona State
- Finished with two pass breakups against Stanford and Washington
- Had four tackles eight times: versus Southern Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Washington State, Colorado, USC, Stanford and Oregon
2018 Recap
A trial by fire.
That's what then redshirt-freshman cornerback Kaleb Hayes endured right out of the gate of his playing career at Oregon State.
Hayes was thrown into the mix in a high-stakes situation early in the 2018 season as he played his first collegiate contest against Ohio State. Armed with the trust of the coaching staff, he started nine contests and played in all 12 games in 2018.
While Hayes' first year of full-time duty on the field had its ups and downs, he showed immense promise that has Oregon State coaches and fans excited about his potential for the next few seasons.
Hayes earned the No. 5 spot on the BeaversEdge Top Defenders in 2018, and there's little reason to doubt that he'll continue his upward growth trajectory in his second year as a full-time stater.
2019 Outlook
It's often said that if you pay your dues, you'll be rewarded in time.
If anyone is due it's Hayes.
After learning numerous scout team offenses and even playing some scout team QB as a true-freshman, then enduring the growing pains of full-time duty and a new coaching staff as a redshirt-freshman, things figure to be much smoother for the San Bernardino native this season.
Now that Hayes has a full year of experience under his belt and more familiarity with what's being asked of him in Tim Tibesar's defensive scheme, I expect him to take a big leap this season.
Toss in the added bonus that I believe that new secondary coach Blue Adams is going to do wonders for the cornerback group as a whole, and there's little reason to doubt that Hayes will be a much-improved player in 2019.
Look for Hayes to lock down the cornerback spot opposite of Isaiah Dunn early in fall camp as he'll look to prove that his solid freshman campaign was only the beginning of a strong start to his career in the orange and black.
