Hammond Snapped His Way To State
October 10, 2024 | Football
STARKVILLE – Hayes Hammond grew up dreaming of playing football for his father.
By the time Hammond was ready to make the move to varsity at Tupelo High School where his father, Trent, was head coach, there were three future Division I players starting for the Golden Wave on defense including future Mississippi State star Jett Johnson. It was apparent that playing time would be minimal for Hayes as a 140-pound safety in Mississippi's highest classification.
"I told him 'Son, I didn't give you the genetics to take spots from those guys. If you want to play and have a role, you'd better learn to punt, snap or kick because I'm not one of those daddies that's going to play you just because you're mine'," Trent said.
Hayes accepted the fatherly advice and immediately started researching long snapping videos on YouTube. Before long, he had a twin mattress propped against a window in their upstairs bonus room and was practicing short snaps into a milk crate for hours on end.
"I don't know that I've ever seen someone work as hard to learn something," Trent said.Â
Hayes honed his skills and accuracy enough that eventually he could knock baseballs off tees and bottles off people's heads with his snaps. The following year, he showcased his newfound abilities at college camps across the country and soon landed offers from MSU, Memphis, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State.
Hayes chose to play down the road in Starkville and the rest, as they say, is history. Following a redshirt season in 2020, the now 5-foot-10, 195-pounder has been the Bulldogs' starting long snapper for the past four years.
"It's been a great opportunity," Hayes said. "It's just something you dream about. I never thought I would have the chance to play in college being as small as I am. But I just take pride in my job and try to perfect it and do the best that I can."
And despite starting 42 career games for the Maroon and White, Hayes isn't exactly a household name among the MSU faithful and he'd like to keep it that way. Typically, if a fan base is familiar with the long snapper by name, it's usually for all the wrong reasons.
All Hayes cares about is making sure his snaps are on target so that everything else on special teams runs smoothly. Â
"It's my job to make everybody else's job easier," Hayes said. "I try to make the punter's job easier and make the holder's job easier. So if I put it in the right spot, it is more than likely that they will too."
Usually a few times a game, however, Hayes' responsibility extends beyond snapping. He gets a chance to dust off his defensive skills in punt coverage and occasionally is the one making the tackle downfield. Â
"That's definitely my favorite part is running down the field," Hayes said. "You get the opportunity to try to make a play. It's usually one of the least athletic players on the team going against one of the most athletic players on the team so it's not like I have the best odds. But hey, I just try to make them miss me and get them going sideways."
Hayes has already earned his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in kinesiology and psychology and plans to follow in his father's footsteps whenever the final chapter of his playing career closes.
"I want to become a college football coach," Hayes said. "Being around football my whole life, I don't see anything else that I want to do."
It has certainly been an unlikely journey for Hayes. From potentially being regulated to the sidelines as a high school safety to becoming a four-year starter in the SEC on special teams, the past few years have been quite the whirlwind for Hayes and the entire Hammond family.
Hayes' parents, Trent and Kim, haven't missed a game – home or away – during his entire career and have been able to create countless memories that the whole family will continue to cherish forever.
"We've enjoyed it and it's been a blast for us," Trent said. "We've traveled everywhere with him, got to watch him play and seen some tremendous places. I tell people all the time that he's down there living my dream. I'll still tell my wife as we're driving up on Saturdays and look at that stadium over there that it's hard to believe that this is our son out there doing this. It's been fun and I can't tell you how proud I am of him."
