Jaxson Hayes

Jaxson Reed Hayes was born in Norman, Oklahoma in 2000. He is the son of Jonathan and Kristi Hayes. When Jaxson was three years old, the family moved to Cincinnati. Jaxson's father spent 15 seasons as the tight end coach for the Cincinnati Bengals (2003-18) and four years as an assistant coach (tight end/special teams) at the University of Oklahoma (1999-2002). His dad was also an All-American tight end at the University of Iowa (1982-85) who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers. Jaxson's mother played basketball at Drake University (1991-95) and earned honorable mention Kodak All-American accolades and Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors as a senior (1994-95). Jaxson has one younger sister and two younger brothers. He attended and played basketball at Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he grew from six feet tall as a freshman to 6-foot-11 as a senior. During his senior season, Hayes averaged 12 points, seven boards and four blocks per game. He then went on to play one year of college ball at the University of Texas. Fans can follow the big center on Twitter (@hayes_jaxson). Hayes began his lone season (2018-19) at the University of Texas by coming off the bench for coach Shaka Smart. The freshman center was productive as a reserve and scored at least 11 points in five of his first six games. Smart put Hayes in the starting lineup on Dec. 28 against UT-Arlington and the 6-foot-11 Longhorn was a starter from that point forward. He averaged 10.0 points on 72.8 percent shooting from the field with 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. His per game block mark ranked third in the Big 12. On Jan. 14, Hayes posted 15 points, six rebounds and five blocks in a win over Oklahoma and followed that game with 10 points, six rebounds and five blocks in a loss at TCU. On Feb. 23, the young center had 12 points, six boards and six blocks in a road loss to the Sooners. In his Big 12 Tournament debut against Kansas, the freshman injured his left knee and did not play again for Texas. He was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Following the season, Hayes chose to enter the 2019 NBA Draft.