ryan hayes

[Bryan Fuller]

Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

Quickly: Tall former HS TE who moved to OL and became Michigan's starting LT for each of the past two seasons, a capable performer in both the run and passing game but who was never the feature of the line. 

Draft Projection: Hayes appears to be in the later round territory (5th-7th), with a decent chance of slipping into the UDFA zone. Hayes was a solid starter for Michigan who earned All-B1G honors, but he never seriously threatened for first team honors nor was ever considered the best OL on his own offensive line. He has multiple years of starting experience on an elite NCAA line with ideal size for the tackle position, but his results against elite pass-rushers leave reason for concern. Hayes lacks the sort of high-end traits scouts are looking for but his experience and success at the collegiate level may be enough to get him a later round draft slot and if not, a free agent deal to get his shot in a training camp setting. 

NFL Comp: I am not an NFL OL or NFL Draft expert, but I will note that Teven Jenkins and Brady Christensen are two comparables I saw pop up in scouting reports of Hayes when I was collecting material for the "what others say" section. 

What's his story: Ryan Hayes arrived at Michigan in the fall of 2018 as a 4* in-state recruit out of Traverse City, part of a two-man tackle class with Jalen Mayfield (2021 3rd round pick), during the brief (second) tenure of Greg Frey. Frey was known for taking massively tall HS tight ends who brought athleticism but lacked muscle and trying to turn them into future starting tackles. He didn't stay at Michigan long enough to see the project out but both tackles he recruited in that class eventually became starters. Of the two, Hayes was even more raw than Mayfield, the ultimate Frey style tackle recruit at 6'7" and somewhere between 255 and 265 in his HS days. 

The expectation was that Hayes would spend many years in the Crock Pot marinating, needing to add immense amounts of weight and muscle to be in playing shape. Which is why it was moderately surprising to see it be Hayes who got a shot to start at LT at the outset of the 2019 season when Jon Runyan Jr. was injured, only one year into his collegiate career. His first appearance against Middle Tennessee State was shockingly good for a player who was still inexperienced at tackle and skinny, but that was followed up by a sharp come-down against Army. Michigan then had a bye week, Runyan returned for Wisconsin, and Hayes went back on the shelf. 

Hayes was next seen in 2020, his RS So. more year, starting at LT opposite his classmate Mayfield at RT. He played two games and didn't look particularly great but then got injured and his season was finished, as Michigan only played six games in the COVID year. It wasn't until 2021 that Hayes finally became a week-in, week-out starter, which was roughly around the time we'd always expected Hayes to emerge anyway. That season he rounded into a solid LT, putting together a statement game against Washington to begin the year. Hayes proved himself easily able to defeat linebackers and bad DEs, but was ripped apart in brutal fashion by PSU's Arnold Ebiketie (2nd round pick, 2022), the first elite, NFL-caliber passrusher he faced that year. We all were on edge for Hayes in The Game, but he had few problems, taking care of the Buckeyes and helping Michigan snap their rivalry drought. For his efforts, Hayes was named 2nd Team All-B1G by the coaches and got an honorable mention from the media. 

Hayes opted to return to Michigan for his fifth year in 2022, one of three returning starters on the defensive front and an anchor of the line at LT, with Michigan plugging multiple faces into the RT spot after the departure of Andrew Steuber. Hayes missed week one against Colorado State, but then returned to being himself, a solid tackle in every phase of the game. The Michigan running game was right-handed this season, built around the interior presence of RG Zak Zinter and C Olu Oluwatimi, so Hayes didn't get as many moments to shine as a mauler, but he held the blindside well and posted consistently strong grades in our UFRs. His performance against Michigan State was a highlight, followed by injury against Rutgers, before returning to close the year well, including a second-straight excellent showing against Ohio State. He was named 2nd Team All-B1G by the coaches and 3rd Team All-B1G by the media. 

Positives: Experienced, veteran tackle with who is smart and possesses decent athleticism, strong in the run game and a decent pass protector too. 

Negatives: Shorter arms and limits on his athleticism and playing strength have left him vulnerable to elite pass rushers and limit his upside at tackle. 

[After THE JUMP: What others say, grading, video, and final thoughts]

[Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: So I heard you like doing cocaine and then doing more cocaine and then coaching a football team's defense.

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OSU, like Illinois, was +1 in the box on standard downs the whole game. Unlike Illinois they did not almost always have a safety who would not be on the screen in the above shot. Otherwise: OSU ran their 4-2-5 virtually the whole game, sometimes with one "deep" safety and sometimes with two; this alignment was especially aggressive with the deepest guy at 7 yards but 10 was not uncommon.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Keegan returned at left guard and Barnhart stayed on at RT. Jones got in for maybe a half dozen snaps as a bonus OL. It appears that general opinion on Barnhart is considerably higher than I expected—he was an All Big Ten honorable mention to both the coaches and media—so maybe I've been a bit pessimistic about his play.

Obviously there was quite a bit of involuntary rotation at RB. Corum tried but could not go; M turned to Stokes. Stokes had a couple issues on his first carries, so Edwards got the large bulk of the remaining work. Stokes did reappear for some snaps in the second half. Gash got in for a goal line play action that went to Loveland. Mullings got two snaps, which I probably do not have to tell you.

Colston Loveland was TE1 in this game. Schoonmaker returned but basically only got in on multiple TE sets. WR rotation was pretty tight, with Andrel Anthony and AJ Henning getting scattered snaps as Wilson, Bell, and Johnson got the vast bulk of PT.

[After THE JUMP: if you take out those five plays…]

[Bryan Fuller]

FORMATION NOTES: There will be no marveling about how passive the opponent was this week. Illinois did not have a single standard down in which they were not +1 in the box. Their three DL barely left the field, and it was cover one about 70% of the time. Against one TE Illinois responded with a pretty standard 3-4 look:

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When Michigan went with two TEs in the box Illinois usually responded with a 6-2 formation with a linebacker folded inside one of their OLBs:

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There is a safety off screen on both these snaps. Illinois would occasionally stem into cover two, and occasionally send that safety who's off screen down either presnap or just before it; usually his job was to clean up anything that popped outside of contain, allowing the Illinois defense to collapse on the interior run game.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Welp. Keegan out again so El-Hadi started; Barnhart maintained the starting job at RT. Jones got in for some goal line plays. I think he's healthy and they're just rolling with Barnhart. Schoonmaker out again so Loveland was TE1 with Honigford and Bredeson mixing in as blockers, mostly. Hibner got his first non-garbage time reps in a while.

WR pretty much the usual. No Edwards at RB and Corum went out near halftime, leaving Stokes, Dunlap, and Gash. Stokes got the most run early but by the time it was crunch time they were using Gash, apparently because they think he's their best option out of the backfield.

[After THE JUMP: stiffer resistance]

thumpa thumpa

final nail in the PFF OL grading coffin

i'm so happy

up and down but still positive 

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was. A time of innocence, a time of confidences. Long ago, it must be. I have a photograph. 

When there was but one set of footprints:

That was when I was carrying the team.

When there were none, I was hurdling a fool.

Audacity, then again audacity, always audacity.

Not knowing how he lost himself, or how he recovered himself, he may never feel certain of not losing himself again.

Naptime.

Bolded alter ego loses his voice.