Arizona Wildcats add transfer LB Treshaun Hayward, the 2019 MAC Defensive Player of the Year

The Arizona Wildcats have secured another big-time transfer at a position of need.

Western Michigan linebacker Treshaun Hayward – the 2019 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year – is transferring to Arizona, he tweeted Monday.

Hayward, who’s listed at 6-1, 235 pounds, was the MAC Defensive Player of the Year and a Sporting News second-team All-American in the last full season played by Western Michigan. He compiled 142 tackles, including 10.5 stops for losses, for the Broncos that season.

This past season, Hayward accumulated 50 tackles, including 3.5 TFLs, in five games. For his career, Hayward has 229 stops, including 16 TFLs, in 39 appearances.

Hayward was a fourth-year senior last year but will be taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted to all players by the NCAA because of the coronavirus pandemic. He's coming to Arizona as a graduate transfer.

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"I began my college athletic pursuit at 17 years old with one goal in mind," Hayward posted. "Since then I have grown as a student-athlete and person. I want to say thank you to the coaches at WMU for giving me an opportunity to play college football. I want to thank my teammates and the community of Kalamazoo for making these four years worthwhile on and off the field; those memories will last a lifetime. I will now be a graduate student-athlete at the University of Arizona!"

Hayward went on to thank first-year UA coach Jedd Fisch and defensive coordinator Don Brown "for the offer and opportunity to develop further as an athlete and as a person."

Hayward was a three-star prospect in the class of 2017 coming out of Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Brown was the DC at Michigan from 2016-20.

Hayward presumably will slot into an inside linebacker position alongside another returning senior, Anthony Pandy. Arizona had minimal depth at linebacker last season after the transfers of three-year starters Tony Fields II and Colin Schooler. The UA has replenished its linebacking corps via the 2021 signing class, but those freshmen won’t have to be forced into the lineup with Pandy returning and Hayward arriving.

Hayward is the seventh player to join Arizona as a transfer this offseason.