De’Chavon Hayes, known better to most as “Gump” didn’t take the most direct route to ASU.

No, he went the junior college route where things were very different from the place where he is now.

“Coming from JUCO we didn’t have our own locker room,” Hayes said. “We didn’t have our own field, it was four men to a single room so when I came here it was a different experience…

“When I came here it was just a different atmosphere. Everybody was friendly.”

But getting the opportunity to live somewhere away from his native Virginia wasn’t the only thing that drew Hayes to the Sun Devils.

He was a prolific running back at Lackawanna College where he ran for 788 yards and 11 all-purpose touchdowns as a freshman and ran for 837 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore.

But Hayes’ road to ASU wouldn’t be smooth. For starters, he would have to adjust to a new coach. Hayes was recruited to ASU by Bo Graham, but Graham resigned prior to the 2015 season, leaving Hayes in a state of flux and unsure in what the future held.

“Bo Graham was the one who recruited me and he and I had a connection,” Hayes said. “I feel like when he left a lot of things just lost touch…I wasn’t as connected with the other coaches as I was with coach Bo, so when coach (Todd) Graham told me he wanted to play me at cornerback I just took that like ‘alright cool.’”

But prior to his moving to the defensive side of the ball, even before he could take the field at all, he first had to clear up some academics, forcing him to redshirt in 2014 to get everything straight.

“It was hard,” Hayes said of that first year on campus. “You have so much love for the game it’s hard to just sit out and see other people play…while they’re working you just feel like you’re behind.

“So I just feel like when I came here I just had to pick up where I left off and when I first came in I just felt like I wasn’t caught up and it was hard for me to get into the playbook and really catch up with everybody but once things got going they got going really good.”

As Hayes said, running back didn’t work out the way he had hoped as players like DJ Foster and juniors Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage took over the position, prompting Hayes’ move to cornerback.

The transition, Hayes said, has gone over well, considering himself an athlete and knowing he possesses the athletic tools to be a cover corner.

“It’s a little different but it’s not that different,” Hayes said. “All my life I’ve been an athlete so I was playing corner before. It was nothing I would say was new, just a little different being out here with guys who have been playing receiver their whole life and just jumping into the fire so that was pretty fun.”

But with that ability to play multiple positions, Todd Graham said there will still be offensive packages for Hayes meaning he will still split practice time with the offense and defense.

That in itself breeds another challenge, having to work with different coaches with different personalities and having to know the intricacies of different positions is anything but easy, except, that is for Hayes.

“It’s not hard,” he said. “I’ve been playing offense my whole life and it’s not hard for me to catch on to the offense. It’s the defense side I’ve really put my focus into and it’s not complicated at all, jut going out there, basically just challenging myself.”

Thursday Hayes practiced with the defense and had some ups and downs, which is to be expected. Even though his background is on the offensive side of the ball, defense seems to catch his eye.

“I feel like defense is where the swag at, where the money at,” he said. “I feel like (Thursday) was a good day. I feel like I can still progress and get better as well.”

With so many tools there is one more where Hayes can be a difference maker – special teams.

Last year Hayes ranked 37th in the country in punt return average with 7.8 return yards per punt and he aims to only go up from there and make his future there.

“Special teams, punt return, kick return is probably my love for the game,” Hayes said. “That’s where I feel I can go to the NFL and really make a huge impact. I feel like I’m one of the most versatile players in the country and I feel like that’s where I can just show my skills and what I can do in open space.”

Helping Hayes get better, he said, is punter Matt Haack. The lefty punter has established himself as one of the better punters in the conference and with that left leg has helped elevate Hayes’ game.

“Matt is a really great punter,” Hayes said. “He just prepares me every day. He kicks the ball so high and so far it’s just a lot of teaching and working with him every day before practice it definitely gets you better.”

His route to the Pac-12 has been filled with twists and turns, peaks and valleys, and paths that are anything but smooth, but nonetheless in his senior season, Hayes is ready to demonstrate what he can do.

Wherever that may be.

“Being through what I’ve been through, the journey I’ve taken to get here, it’s definitely motivation,” he said.