Defensive linemen headline Bulldogs’ recruiting class

There were no football drills on the schedule during Zion Dayne’s unforgettable week on the Yale University campus.

Before the highly touted defensive end and son of 1999 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne would become a headliner in the latest Yale football recruiting class, it was his desire for academic growth that resulted in Dayne taking part in the National Student Leadership Council summer event hosted by Yale.

“I went up there for a law camp and I had a blast,” Dayne said. “I stayed overnight for a week and met a lot of new people. I had a great time and that really increased my interest in Yale.”

Dayne made certain that there would be more memories made on the Yale campus when he committed to play for the Bulldogs on July 31. He joins offensive lineman Bennie Anderson, also the son of a former NFL player, and fellow defensive lineman Mitchell Tyler as Yale signees who are ranked in the top 100 in Hero Sports list of top FCS recruits in the Class of 2020. Running back Jacob Saffold and defensive lineman Teo Falk join Tyler as Yale recruits to break into the top 100 in the 247sports.com listing of top FCS recruits in 2020.

The 28-member class of incoming freshmen is headlined by five defensive linemen, five offensive linemen and three quarterbacks. Those numbers could actually be higher as two high school quarterbacks are projected to play other positions and two defensive linemen are expected to play tight end for the Bulldogs.

“Sometimes there are just a lot of really good players at a position and you feel like there’s an opportunity where you have guys that you don’t want to miss on, you take them,” Yale coach Tony Reno said. “For us, it always starts up front on the offensive line, defensive line and quarterback. Those are the three areas that we really push on; in my opinion if you aren’t good up front on either side of the ball and not good at quarterback, it’s really hard to be an elite team and have a chance to win championships. When we recruited that class, we felt like there was a lot of quality at those positions and we were fortunate that a good number of those guys made the decision to come to Yale.”

Dayne certainly checks all the boxes. He averaged nearly 10 tackles a game and had 20 sacks to go with 14 touchdown runs to lead South County High School to the Virginia Class 6 title. He also displayed next-level athleticism with a 4.57 time in the 40-yard dash at a Nike regional combine while weighing in at 236 pounds.

“He’s fast, he’s quick off the ball,” said Waterbury native Gerry Pannoni, who coached Dayne for four years at South County High School in Lorton, Virginia, before taking the job at Rio Rancho High School in New Mexico. “Before his senior year, he was at the Nike combine and he had one of the top five 40 times in the country for a defensive lineman. Having not played a lot of football, technique has been very sound because he didn’t have any bad habits so we could teach him fresh.”

Dayne’s football career began to take off when his mother, Melanie Malterer, moved from North Carolina to Virginia when Zion was in middle school.

Naturally, he did see time at running back during his high school career, but it was on the other side of the ball that the 240-pound Dayne made the greatest impact.

“I love running back too but I just fell in love with it,” Dayne said. “I love coming off the ball and getting to the guy carrying the ball, making that big play, making that tackle. There’s just some type of excitement about that, it’s a different feeling.”

While thriving on the football field, he was even more productive in the classroom. He credits his mom for driving home how important it was to take care of the academic side of things.

“Mom is a very humble, intelligent person so I think that is how he is,” Pannoni said.

Those personality traits were valuable when opposing fans would taunt Dayne about his famous father, who is still second among major college players in career rushing yards from his four seasons at Wisconsin and is in the top 10 in rushing yards per game and touchdown runs.

“We’d hear it all the time,” Pannoni said. “People would be yelling stuff about the Heisman Trophy winner’s son, all this other stuff but I think he let it all roll in one ear and out a lot, or he did a pretty good job of not letting it show that it bothered him.”

While Dayne knew for some time that he wanted to go to Yale, Tyler originally committed to Baylor before opting to join the talented group of defensive line recruits headed to Yale.

“Mitchell sparked their interest with his outright academic prowess and his extremely high character, then they turned on the film and they saw that he was a difference maker as a football player for our football team,” McKinney (Texas) coach Marcus Shavers said. “They found out pretty quick that there was some mutual interest, he took his visit, weighed his options and ended up signing with Yale and (it’s) a decision that we think is going to impact his life forever.”

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Tyler had 13 tackles for loss and 12 quarterback pressures as a senior.

“He has just sheer Godgiven ability,” Shavers said. “He’s long, lean, really cut up, just long-limbed dude who has a special physical gift and then he plays with an unbelievable motor, effort and passion, the amount of focus and desire that he has to improve and get better, he’s a special player in that regard. He has a knack for getting after the quarterback, he has a frame that’s going to be able to gain weight and add bulk and muscle.”

Tyler will join a defensive line group that includes Texas natives Osorachukwu Ifesinachukwu and Reid Nickerson, who are among 10 returning Yale players who had at least 20 tackles in 2019.

He is one of five former Texas high school stars set to be freshmen at Yale. Two of them come out of Westlake, the Texas 6A D2 champions and the same school that produced record-breaking Yale receiver Reed Klubnik. Ryan Lindley finished with more catches (101), receiving yards (1,289) and touchdown catches (20) than Klubnik had as a senior at the Texas high school powerhouse, while offensive lineman Connor Halverson earned second-team TWSA Class 6A honors.

Cypress Ridge defensive back Kade Barnes, Independence offensive lineman Jack Karhu and Dallas Christian quarterback Zack Haaland, who is expected to play defensive back at Yale, are other recruits from Texas.