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Mercury Hayes

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{{NFL.com player}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata. Mercury W. Hayes (born January 1 1971) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons,[1] a former Canadian Football League (CFL) player for the Montreal Alouettes,[2] and a former University of Michigan Wolverines football star. He was drafted with the 136th overall pick in the 5th round of the 1996 National Football League draft.[3] He had attended Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.[4] He was drafted just after Pro Bowl wide receiver Joe Horn, the 135th pick.[5]

College career

Hayes, who wore #9 for the Wolverines,[6] is best remembered for his 7 reception 179 yard performance culminating in a game-winning, fourth down, time expired 15 yard touchdown catch from Scott Dreisbach against University of Virginia Cavaliers defensive backs Ronde Barber and Paul London in the Pigskin Classic to complete what was at the time the largest comeback in Michigan Football history in Lloyd Carr's coaching debut.[7][8] They play was the culmination of a drive that has been described as one of the two wildest finishes in University of Michigan Football history.[9]

Toomer and Hayes were the fourth pair of Michigan receivers to have played together with 2000 career reception yards.[4] With 2,144 career yards and 124 receptions he ranks 10th and 12th on the All-time Michigan lists 2 yards behind Desmond Howard and 1 reception behind Derrick Alexander respectively.[10]

Hayes was heavily recruited by University of Colorado, Florida State University, University of Arkansas, and University of Southern California. The Colorado was so interested in having him in the 1992 incoming class with Koy Detmer and Rashaan Salaam that they reserved their 25th scholarship for him hoping he would change his mind after having committed to Michigan.[11] In the 1994 Miracle at Michigan, Colorado (ranked #7) exacted their revenge on Michigan (ranked #4) when Kordell Stewart completed a 64 yard hail mary pass to Detroit native Michael Westbrook against Ty Law and Chuck Winters as time expired to complete a miracle comeback.[12] This was the other of the two wildest plays in Michigan Football history.[9]

Professional career

The 1996 draft was a quality draft for wide receivers with Keyshawn Johnson, Terry Glenn, Eddie Kennison, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Bobby Engram, Terrell Owens, Muhsin Muhammad, Joe Horn and former Michigan teammate Amani Toomer also being drafted. Hayes, the first of three 1996 fifth round picks by the Saints,[13] started the 1997 season on the New Orleans Saints' roster and appeared in 4 games,[14][1] but signed with the Atlanta Falcons in midseason (October 27 1997) and appeared in two games for the Falcons.[15][1] He was released by the Falcons in the preseason of the following year. Hayes was picked up on September 18 1998 by the Washington Redskins to their practice squad. He was released from their practice team after 19 days.[16]

Mercury Hayes' NFL career longest reception of 50 yards, caught in week 14 of the 1996 season in a 26-10 loss to the St. Louis Rams, was the first NFL pass by Doug Nussmeier (Nussmeier's second pass was his only touchdown completion).[17] Although Hayes only compiled 4 receptions for 101 yards and 2 rushes for 7 yards while appearing in 7 games,[1] he earned nearly $39,000 in bonus money over the course of his rookie season.[18]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Mercury Hayes". databaseSports.com. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  2. ^ "All-Time Alouettes Roster" (PDF). Montreal Alouettes Football Club. 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  3. ^ "University of Michigan Football NFL Draft History:1990s". Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  4. ^ a b Signora, Michael (1995-11-18). "Wolverine senior flanker Hayes spices up Michigan's potent aerial assault". Collegian Inc. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  5. ^ Alder, James. "Joe Horn". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  6. ^ "Bentley Historical Library -- -- U of M Football Rosters". The Regents of the University of Michigan. 2003-08-25. Retrieved 2007-11-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Michigan Finds Miracle of Its Own to Overcome Virginia". The New York Times Company. 1995-08-27. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  8. ^ "Versus Virginia August 26, 1995 (box score)". M Go Blue. Regents of the University of Michigan. 2003. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  9. ^ a b Jones, Todd (2007). "Michigan". In MacCambridge, Michael (ed.). ESPN Big Ten College Football Encyclopedia. ESPN Enterprises. p. 62. ISBN 1933060492.
  10. ^ "M Go Blue - University of Michigan Athletics Official Site". Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  11. ^ "Mercury Hayes commits to Michigan/Colorado recruiting summary". 1992-2-11. Retrieved 2007-10-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Maisel, Ivan (2007-06-11). "Stewart to Westbrook silenced Big House crowd". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  13. ^ "Draft Pick History". NewOrleansProFootball.com. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  14. ^ "1997 New Orleans Saints". CNN/SI. 1997-09-18. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  15. ^ "Mercury Hayes". ESPN Internet Ventures. 1999. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  16. ^ "Mercury Hayes". AlumniAtlas.com. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  17. ^ Serpas, Frank III. "Saints 10 Rams 26 Summary". Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  18. ^ "NFC salaries". USAToday. 1997-05-22. Retrieved 2007-10-2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

Mercury Hayes' Statistics at Databasesports

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