An up-and-coming Peach State signal-caller to keep an eye on this season was on campus at Clemson last month.
Effingham County High School (Guyton, Ga.) 2024 quarterback Nate Hayes participated in the second day of the Dabo Swinney Camp on June 2.
“Clemson was great,” Hayes told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview. “I learned a lot about basic fundamentals and how to handle the offense. It was really one of the best camps I’ve been to this summer.”
What type of feedback did Hayes receive from Clemson’s coaching staff?
“The coaches worked on my arm mechanics and how to shorten my release, especially Coach (Brandon) Streeter,” he said. “I was in the A2 group, so we really worked on that. We went five yards-10 yards-15 yards and how to shorten up your release and really see the whole field.”
One thing Hayes loved about the camp was getting to work with Streeter and the hands-on teaching and the hands-on coaching.
“He’s a really great guy,” Hayes said of Clemson’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. “Just to be able to learn from Coach Streeter — the quarterbacks coach at Clemson — that was what made it one of the best camps.”
In addition to Clemson, Hayes participated in the Mercer Mega Camp, while also camping at the University of Alabama.
“They were all great experiences,” he said. “If you were able to take away one thing from each camp, that was my goal, and I think I was able to do that. I took away one unique lesson from each camp.
“Mercer was great. It was an experience that was really about exposure…Clemson obviously was a great camp and Alabama was about skill guys and I was able to learn from coaches from Mississippi…but at Alabama, I learned a lot too.”
What was the unique lesson that Hayes was able to take away from his time at Swinney Camp?
“Really how to shorten my release, that was something that I learned, ” he said. “That was something that my quarterbacks coach at my high school was trying to get me to do my previous year and then to have Clemson reiterate that, that really helped me. And that’s transferring to 7-on-7 as well.”
As far as his recruitment is concerned, Hayes does not currently hold any scholarship offers. At the same time, he is determined and feels like this season will not only be important for his recruitment but for his team as a whole. He’s a team player first and foremost and feels like Effingham County’s success will be pertinent to his own.
Hayes said that the South Carolina State coach told him that he would “really keep up with him” this upcoming season. He also received interest from the North Greenville coach, while he was camping at Clemson.
Hayes, who currently stands at 5-foot-11, 160-pounds, says that his high school coach tells him all the time about putting on some weight. That’s something that he really wants to work towards. Hayes wants to gain a few pounds to really have that stature by the time his junior season rolls around.
The three-sport athlete has dedicated himself to the weight room and is constantly eating. Hayes hopes to be around 170-to-175-pounds for his junior campaign after he puts in the necessary work this summer.
“I’m definitely a player on and off the field,” Hayes said when asked to describe himself as a player. “I put the hours into film study and intangibles are more important than tangibles and that’s something my head coach reiterates all the time. I’m really a thinker on the field and I’m mobile in the pocket, I can get out of the pocket and I really have a strong arm.”
– Photo for this article courtesy of @NateHayes07 on Twitter.
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