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: Fools-hurdlin' thunderback who meets every moment, doesn't fumble, and always falls forward.

Draft Projection: 3rd round-caliber who'll probably drop to Day 3 because in 100 years like three NFL GMs total have learned not to say "You can't teach speed" when drafting a running back. I think Haskins will be a value pick in the 5th to 7th round because he's guaranteed to be valuable to his team (he'll play special teams until you need him), and John Harbaugh's nephew found and coached Haskins in the first place. Nevertheless, I'm bracing for Hassan to still be on the board when someone reaches for Isaih Pacheco. Someone will get a steal, fantasy types will think they've made a grand discovery when Haskins starts scoring TDs all over the place, and then everyone will shrug and say running backs really can come from anywhere/only the local fanboys can say they saw it coming. Like Joique Bell.

NFL Comp: LeGarrette Blount, but 230, slower, doesn't fumble, and a shining example of a human being.

What's his story? Friend, I don't care if your team is called the Columbus Trytosucks or the Detroit Lions. Get ready to BELIEVE!

Emerging from the bottom of the recruiting class rankings, in an era when the first and last thing anyone knew about Michigan was Ohio State gets to eat our lunch, Hassan Haskins defied the fanbase-wide notion that we cannot have good things.

very next play pic.twitter.com/PVhhYkU83B

— Due# (@JDue51) October 27, 2019

Michigan's coaches knew they had a gem and were terrified about exposing his recruiting story lest other teams pick up on it. He ran a 4.74 forty in high school. After a redshirt season in which they tried him at their hybrid linebacker job, Haskins emerged behind a crowded RB room that included a 5-star freshman Zach Charbonnet because all the others were fumbling away a well-in-hand game at Illinois. Though Michigan kept adding great backs, Haskins held onto RB#1 from the 2019 Illinois game because he never went down on first contact. He played special teams. He hurdled fools so often we made a thing out of it. When there was nobody else to stiffarm, juke, set up, or hurdle, Haskins ran for a while, then someone would catch up and there'd be a tussle for ten yards followed by a field goal try.

For this and many reasons, Haskins is a deeply personal favorite. It wasn't so long ago Michigan was coming off a 2-4 season and finding any cause for excitement in 2021 was work. It was then it struck me that Haskins was the way out of the black pit of negative expectations, or BPONE as the familiar put it. If your program is one that calls boring power runs that meet a safety at the line of scrimmage, Haskins is a reason to keep watching past what your brain's already concluded is the inevitable.

When the NIL dragon was unleashed last offseason I strongly recommended buying his jersey. I did so too, and had it hanging behind me in my office for all Coronavirus Zoom calls.

Positives: Very quick feet and acceleration make him an excellent runner behind power. Incredible balance. Always gets yards after contact, and fights for the extra 2 at the end of every run. Does not fumble. Became an excellent blocker over the course of his career.

Negatives: Has a long way to go as a stretch zone runner—Michigan didn't run it much and he often missed gap opportunities. Not fast, in case you hadn't heard.

---------------------------------------------

What others say: PFF, again: the production-oriented service, had Haskins and his running mate Corum ranked #1s and 2 at one point. Haskins finished 3rd among FBS runners (5th overall) and the best Big Ten RB since Jonathan Taylor. Among other names of note, Corum was 12th (19th overall), Kenneth Walker III was 11th (18th overall) and Zach Charbonnet, whom Haskins and Corum chased off to UCLA, was one spot ahead of Walker. Their numbers are interesting because RB has a lot of whiffs at the NFL level, and their "dominator rating" seems to cut through some of that noise:

The same case can be made for Michigan’s Hassan Haskins, who broke out in a big way as “the guy” for the Wolverines in 2021. Haskins earned a 23% dominator rating, raising his career dominator rating to 20%.

With an identical PFF rushing grade to Breece Hall (91.6) over the last three seasons, Haskins looked primed to exceed expectations in the NFL. He offers a lot of size at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds and will leap up draft boards if he tests well at the combine.

The Michigan product also led his entire class in rushing attempts inside the 5-yard line (29), which gives him a real shot at carving out a goal-line role in the pros.

Other sites tend to use the word "surprising" to describe things about him good and bad. Belly Up Sports went hardest:

Vision – Oddly inconsistent. Had occasions of phenomenal vision and anticipation but made many bone-headed decisions. At times, he just lowered his shoulder and barreled into defenders even when he had other options. Still, the high-end potential of his vision is outstanding. He displayed it also in his running on the second level, maneuvering behind blocks with precision.

Elusiveness – Surprisingly elusive for a runner of his size. While he isn’t exceptionally shifty, he has a mean jump cut, and he is a very smooth runner. He won’t juke players out of their shoes, but he is great at finding the lane that will minimize “tackleability”.

Agility – Smooth and nimble, which is shocking for his size. He can twist and wiggle like the best of them, and he has a knack for getting skinny and slipping behind blocks.

They say he could be one of those RBs who "inexplicably" gets drafted early then kicks ass. It all tracks. The most negative framing of that was from Brett Kollman, who put Haskins in his Tier 4 and comped him to Shonn Greene.

Our Scheme/Best Scheme: Haskins is a power back for a power team. Michigan loved inviting safeties down to the box in the hopes that Haskins would run one over. Worst case scenario he was meeting them at two yards and bowling them over to make it four. But a couple times a game that guy would miss, or get run over, and then it up to the fools. For many reasons I can see Haskins in New England, since they've had several backs of his type.

2021 MGoBlog Grading by Play Type

The following numbers are based on my 2021 charting in Upon Further Review. Scored plays are those where he was listed as the primary offensive player (IE the ballcarrier or passing target) or where he earned points. They're not snap counts.

Play Type	+	-	Tot	Scored Plays
Power Run	103	13	+90	159
Inside Zone	43.5	17.5	+26	98
Outside Zone	9.5	7	+2.5	16
Screen	2.5	0	+2.5	5
Other Run	13	13	-	8
Passes	27	7	+20	42

"Other Run" means things like jet sweeps or QB draws, etc.

These are INSANE numbers for a running back. Brian Cook started this scoring system shortly after Mike Hart graduated, and lamented after the Washington game this year that he handed it off to me right when two more of that ilk arrived. He thought I was perhaps scoring it differently, until PFF's scores came in.

There's no doubt where Haskins made his bones though. More than any other back they trusted him to run behind their Counter and Pin & Pull (aka Buck) sweeps, slow-developing plays that often had a guy to dodge in the backfield or one waiting in the intended gap if things went awry. The way Michigan blocked these plays was the kickout guy always had an option to turn his edge guy inside, and Haskins was superb at setting that guy up. Michigan also liked to ask Haskins to pick out backside lanes as counters to their split zones, since the QB was rarely a keep threat.

It is fair to say that for much of the season the coaches were asking Haskins to make good plays that delivered unblocked defenders to the gap. He regularly did so.

CAREER CHARTING BY GAME

UPDATE: This was left out of an earlier draft that posted.

2019 Opponent	Run+	Run-	Run Total	Pass-	Snaps	Notes
MTSU			-	2	15	No carries
Army			-		6	DNC
Wisconsin			-	1	30	Got in late when run game was turned off.
Rutgers	1.5		+1.5		32	Mostly ran hard in a straight line.
Iowa	0.5		+0.5		24	some YAC
Illinois	3	1.5	+1.5		37	DID NOT FUMBLE
Penn State	2.5	1	+1.5		49	okay
Notre Dame	8	0.5	+7.5		43	Stiffarm city.
Maryland	6.5		+6.5		32	YAC machine.
Michigan State	2	2.5	-0.5		29	One major hiccup was as a blocker in the diamond.
Indiana	5.5	1	+4.5		35	Blasted some guys.
Ohio State	12	3	+9		56	RAGE highlights, lead blocks, barely used at pass pro
Alabama	7	2	+5	5	52	The usual Rage. Pass pro exploited
2020 Opponent	Run+	Run-	Total	Pass-	Snaps	Notes
Minnesota	3.5	1	+2.5		8	Broke the big one mostly himself.
Michigan State	7	0	+7		16	Did that on just 16 snaps.
Indiana	1	0.5	+0.5		12	No carries, no blocking, no points
Wisconsin	1		+1		7	Not enough snaps on which they could do anything.
Rutgers	7.5		+7.5		43	Established himself as RB1
Penn State	6.5	1	+5.5		40	Best player?
2021 Opponent	Run+	Run-	Total	Pass-	Snaps	Notes
Western Michigan	9.5		+9.5		20	Solid jersey investment.
Washington	16	3	+13	1	35	In defense of my charting: offense built to give him opportunities.
Northern Illinois	7	0	+7		12	On 9 carries!
Rutgers	2	3	-1		19	That's new.
Wisconsin	5.5	1	+4.5		39	Always got 2+. Owed a TD.
Nebraska	16.5	3	+13.5		42	BBRRRRRAAAAAAWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Northwestern	21.5	3	+18.5		39	A fitting tribute to George Jewett.
Michigan State	10.5	2	+8.5		35	He's no Kenneth Walker III but he charts like one.
Indiana	19.5	6	+13.5		57	PFF's new #1 HB, not at stretch zone. Kicked ass on blitz pickups.
Penn State	24	6	+18		70	When there was but one set of footprints: That was when I was carrying the team.
Maryland	11	8	+3	2	39	Fumble only 30% of a disappointing day.
Ohio State	22.5	0	+22.5		49	Happy Hassanukkah. Always gets his yards.
Iowa	13.5	2	+11.5		35	Did not hurdle a fool. Just dominated again.
Georgia	5.5	2.5	+3	1	17	Rumbled once, got impatient a few times.

Looking back it's weird how much they ran Charbonnet over Haskins early in his career. Haskins had to earn that RB1 designation. The clue as to why is evident in that first Alabama game. Haskins went from being a guy you couldn't leave in pass protection early in his career and turned pass pro into a strength by the end of it. 

Video of All Varieties: (Collection)

When the game is on the line.

First contact might as well not exist.

Grade A pile-mover:

…who ALWAYS falls forward:

Lethal jump-cut:

Balance and body control:

Patience vs. dweebs who go doink.

Vision, finds irregular lanes:

Pass protection:

Just a chip block:

Productive target for simple routes and dumpoff YAC:

Fools hurdled:

1. Alohi Gilman, Notre Dame 2019

2. Tre Person, Michigan State 2020

3. Bricen Garner, WMU 2021

4. Marquel Dismuke, Nebraska 2021

5. Angelo Grose, MSU 2021

6. Devon Matthews, Indiana 2021

7. Cameron Brown, Ohio State 2021

Hail these glorious fools who hath been hurdled in thine name, Hassan.

Summary and Projection: If you still think that speed is the most important attribute for a running back, buddy, you may want to turn this off now. Haskins is more than a thunderback, though. Those feet make it very hard to get solid contact on him, and if you don't get solid contact on him he's not going down. There's a reason I think of the Patriots (I don't like the Patriots) with him, because they always seem to have one of those guys who picks up yards consistently whether they're there for him or not.

Every team could use this guy, however, because he's an elite finisher. Michigan's 4th and short strategy was awful—they ran inside zone without blocking the edge and hoped their running back could plow through contact and squeezed gaps. Haskins is the only reason that didn't blow up in their faces. Yes, about eight times in his career he was tracked down from behind when most backs would have scored. But far, far more often Haskins was meeting those safeties within a few yards of the line of scrimmage, either because they were near the goal line or because Michigan's offensive strategy could often devolve into "We are running Counter with Haskins right here—go ahead and stop it."

If you just picked up Hassan Haskins, it's time to start wondering if you got the smart franchise this time. Doubtless he didn't even cost you much of a pick. You might even be thinking this is just a depth pick because he plays special teams. What you really got is 7 yards on 3rd and 4 in the fourth quarter. Buy the jersey now.