Daron Payne honored with jersey retirement ceremony at Shades Valley

Daron Payne’s legacy at Shades Valley High School has been cemented.

On Friday night, the former Alabama star and current Pro Bowl defensive tackle of the Washington Commanders had his No. 94 high school jersey retired.

In addition to the retirement ceremony, Payne presented the Shades Valley athletics department with a check for $100,000.

“I know we’ve been planning this for a couple of years and and (the) schedules haven’t been able to get it done, but I’m excited to be able to come back and retire my number,” Payne said. “(There’s) only a couple of numbers that have been retired so I know those people are special in this community, so it’s exciting to be one of those special people. I had a bunch of fun. I got a chance at getting interceptions, scoring touchdowns, all that stuff. I made a lot of memories here.”

Payne ‘s No. 94 jersey will be on display in the Shades Valley Field House.

Payne helped the Mounties to a 19-5 record over his final two high school seasons. He was one of the nation’s top defensive line prospects in recruiting class of 2015.

Payne immediately became a role player at Alabama. He helped the Crimson Tide win a pair of national championships (2015, 2017) before entering the NFL Draft following his junior year.

Washington selected him No. 13 overall in 2018. in the  in the country when he joined Nick Saban at Alabama in the 2015 recruiting class. He quickly found himself as a role player as a freshman on the first of two national championship teams he was a part of (2015, 2017).

Payne left school after his junior season. Washington selected him No. 13 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Payne received a $90 million contract extension in March.