How an ‘embarrassed’ ex-basketball player became a tantalizing UM defensive line commit
Allan Haye had been told for about a decade he should be playing football. He was about 6 foot and 260 pounds by the time he was a sophomore, but his athletic exploits had never taken him to the gridiron. His parents were worried about Haye getting hurt, so he had to find what he has dubbed “alternative sports.” He started out playing soccer and eventually found a home playing basketball, although the tantalizing potential of playing football at his size always lingered in the distance.
Everything changed ahead of his sophomore year in Coconut Creek. A coach from “a top school in South Florida,” Haye said, reached out to him about potentially going to play football there, although nothing ever came of it. Ultimately, the powerhouse Haye declined to name didn’t want to take a chance on a lineman who had never played the sport. Still, Haye took it the hint. In 2018, he suited up as a football player for the first time with the Cougars.
“I was like, ‘OK, that’s still my sign to play,’” Haye said.
Understandably, it took him some time to learn as a sophomore, so his debut season was mostly about flashing potential. Last year, he transferred to Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna and blossomed into one of the best defensive linemen in South Florida, piling up 68 tackles, eight tackles for loss and six sacks en route to a Class 3A championship. More than a dozen offers piled up, and he became a three-star defensive tackle in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2021.
On Tuesday, the junior made his college choice public, orally committing to the Miami Hurricanes about three months after they first offered him a scholarship. Haye picked up the offer in January and visited about two weeks later for a junior day. Since then, the 6-1, 296-pound prospect has kept in constant contact with the Hurricanes, particularly defensive line coach Todd Stroud, running backs coach Eric Hickson and coach Manny Diaz.
“I talk to them all the time,” Haye said. “I kind of felt like I was committed before I was actually committed.”
Haye said he makes most decisions by just trusting his “gut.” He decided to switch from basketball to football because he felt like the time was right and he said his decision to transfer from Coconut Creek to Chaminade-Madonna was a gut decision, too. On Monday, he woke up feeling like it was time to commit to Miami, so he did so in a conversation with the coaching staff via FaceTime later in the day.
While Haye is now the lowest-ranked nonkicker in the Hurricanes’ 2021 recruiting class, Miami loves Haye’s upside. It wasn’t so long ago he was entirely out of his depth, and now he’s a focal point for one of the best defenses in Florida.
“Our defense isn’t good without him,” Lions coach Dameon Jones said. “He’s the foundation of it.”
Haye didn’t actually start playing until the summer of 2018, so his first practice was just a few weeks before his rookie season began. In his first practice, Haye spent as much time on his back after a drill as he did still on his feet.
“I was getting whooped. I was getting pancaked,” Haye said. “It kind of was embarrassing, but it was just like, All right, I’ve just got to keep going, keep working. ... I knew this was the sport I had to play.”
His coaches and teammates wanted him to get better, too. Instead of taunting Haye any time he got knocked over, the offensive lineman he was matched up against would try to point out what he was doing wrong and how he could fix it. Haye started working out more in the weight room and devoured YouTube videos with an emphasis on technique.
Haye’s first game was a kickoff classic against Gainesville Eastside. He had one tackle. It was all he needed.
“That was when I knew I was supposed to play football,” Haye said.
After one season, he transferred to Chaminade-Madonna, and Jones could tell from the first moments of the first workouts Haye had a chance to be special. All the coach needed to see was Haye running down the field way out in front of all the other linemen.
“You just don’t see that,” Jones said.
Haye didn’t necessarily grow up a Miami fan because he wasn’t a huge football fan. Instead, he fell in love with the Hurricanes’ defense as he learned more about it, feeling the emphasis on speed and a downhill, attacking style fit his skill set.
Miami’s ties to Chaminade-Madonna helped, too. Once Thad Franklin recommitted to Miami in February, the four-star running back told Haye to tag along. This week, he finally decided to.
“When Thad recommitted,” Haye said, “he was like, ‘Yeah, come join the fam.’”
