Dallan Hayden to the Portal
Makes me feel gross posting buckeye links, however, would we kick the tires on him even though we have our own crowded RB room? This was a player who seemingly had incredible potential but never saw it come to fruition in Columbus. Thoughts?
Thoughts:
No
And
Recently, many players have had incredible potential that never came to fruition in Columbus
Agree, no.
But, while it's fun to be snarky about OSU, last year they were probably the #2 or #3 team in the country... they just had a bottleneck to their post-season in that they couldn't get past the #1 team. Really, given OSU's defensive play last year plus all that O talent (sans QB), after us, who would you say had the second best team? Them or the Dawgs. Everyone else--Bama, UW, FSU (even assuming a healthy QB)--was clearly not of the same quality.
This. They were definitely the best team we played, and we couldn’t help that Georgia lost before the CFP (though we could - and did - beat the team that beat them).
They definitely were not the best team Michigan played last season. Michigan controlled that game throughout. We never trailed at any point. It took some extenuating circumstances at full health for Michigan to beat Bama. We barely moved the ball on them the entire second half outside of the final drive, and trailed most of the 4th quarter for the first and only time all season.
In hindsight I would rank difficulty of games in 2023
1. Rose Bowl
2. @Happy Valley
3. The Game
Difficult of games does not equal best/toughest opponents.
Happy Valley was more difficult bc of Jims suspension the night before, all the surrounding bs, and a dinged up JJ.
OSU was a better team than PSU
I am not sure OSU was better than PSU last season. They were a questionable pass interference away from beating OSU in columbus. PSU defense was better than any unit on OSU but Buckeyes had more balance since Allar is abysmal. You're overrating OSU by a lot from a talent perspective. They had mostly just guys on defense. We bullied them all game long. Queue the 8 min final drive when we wanted to end the game.
Also it should be noted, and I know Buckeyes like to act as if the bowl season didn't happen, but the last time we saw their sorry behinds they couldn't cross a neutral mid field vs the vaunted Missouri Tigers!
I take it back. They've moved down to 4th hardest game since I was legitimately worried for a bit against Maryland.
Queue the 8 min final drive when we wanted to end the game.
Cue. You're not putting it in the back of your playlist, you (the director) are giving the cue for it to be performed.
Good grief. OSU was decimated before the Missouri game. The results go in the books, but it was not representative of anything.
Regarding Michigan v OSU, what if OSU starts the game with a number of first downs and a punt instead of something amounting to a pick six? I do believe Michigan was the better team but they were fortunate to be able to play it safe all game.
No, not even close.
OSU played us to a near even game on the road.
With one or two more plays, it's 31-30.
OSU, with all the offensive talent, and a good defense, was the best team we played.
"With one or two more plays, it's 31-30"
Yeah, but they didn't make the one or two plays. The Lions were in the Super Bowl if one of Kindle Vildor or Josh Reynolds made 4th Quarter plays. But they didn't and the Lions went home. That, my friend, is football.
Final SP+ Agrees though it's close with OSU, PSU, and Bama.
- Michigan 31.3
- Georgia 31.2
- Oregon 26.2
- Ohio St. 25.2
- Penn St. 23.5
- Texas 23.2
- Alabama 23.1
- Notre Dame 20.1
- Florida St. 19.4
- Missouri 19.3
- LSU 19.1
- Ole Miss 18.4
- Washington 16.4
This ranking is horse crap. How is Washington at 13, they beat Oregon TWICE!!!
UGA got a lot of SP+ credit for waxing FSU, who didn't have any of their starters playing that bowl game. Granted, they were still close to us and a clear #2, but it shouldn't be as close.
With one or two more plays, it’s 37-24
With eleven defenders on the field for the last two plays, ND likely beats OSU.
Seriously. Bama took us to overtime and OSU did not, so I'm thinking Bama was #2
Michigan made way more mistakes in the Rose Bowl. Take Michigan's punting and punt return game from the Rose Bowl and put it in the OSU game, and OSU is up on Michigan in the fourth quarter and probably pulls it out.
Agreed - I never understood why, in the argument for one loss team's, it wasn't brought up that the team with the 'best loss' was OSU.
OSU certainly had a claim to be considered the #2 team in the country last year. OSU was a team where I can say if Michigan played them a second time, I'm not entirely sure Michigan wins. Georgia probably goes in that category as well as long as Michigan gets their best game.
OSU lost by 6, on the road to the #1 team in the country, on the final drive, in plus territory. Putting my bias and OSU hatred aside, its hard to dog them too much for that.
Beating a good team twice in a year is very difficult.
That said, UM was the best team in the country last year and OSU did not have the offense to move it on UM consistently.
JJ was hurt going into the game and I think a rematch would have actually favored UM more. McCord was not going to get any better in a playoff, JJ probably would.
The only game UM seemingly lost control of was the Bama game, and that was mostly due to ridiculously poor special teams play which was a 10-14 point swing during regulation of that game.
UGA was probably the #2 team in the nation last year and had the passing attack to potentially threaten UM...glad BAMA beat them in the SEC championship.
We did not lose control of the Alabama game. In rewatching the game, I realized that we completely dominated it, but let them stay in it due to multiple special teams' mistakes.
Ohio State was horrible in its bowl game, and that should be taken into consideration. It shows that there wasn't sufficient pride and competitiveness to be a top team. Same with Michigan the years some of our better players sat out the bowl game. Also, it shows a lack of depth. Hard to believe how bad Ohio State was offensively in their bowl game.
Did you see who was the QB for OSU? Pride has nothing to do with it.
OSU went through the first 11 games easily. They are always loaded. Not wise to underestimate them.
How can you say Bama was not of the same quality? They beat the previous #1 Georgia and had us on the ropes in the waning minutes of the game. OSU never lead against us. I would say OSU was #4 last year behind us, Bama and Georgia
This. Bama was fucking loaded, and no one should overlook Michigan's accomplishment of beating them.
Per the recruiting rankings, that Alabama team was the most talented team in history.
In fairness, I don’t think Ohio State is THAT well regarded for its fruit agriculture program, so I’m not sure I can reach that conclusion.
So OSU isn't the source of the annual orange crop forecasts?
"Recently, many players have had incredible potential that never came to fruition in Columbus."
Agreed. And, yet, it seems that players are still lining up to go there and that OSU is, I guess, just entitled to a top three recruiting class every year until the end of time.
https://247sports.com/college/ohio-state/Season/2025-Football/Commits/
Look at top eight players there. No WRs.
Is their NIL that good?
No and "Oh No".
"Potential means you havent done anything yet" -Bill Parcells
"We wish Hayden the best looking for his next football home."
Uncharacteristically classy for Buckeyes.
At this point I'm more concerned we'll lose guys to the portal due to lack of carries than trying to bring in portal talent. Do not want. We have two guys in Edwards and Mullings who could probably start for most teams in the B1G. Behind them we have Ben Hall, who Corum called out as the guy to watch, and highly touted RBs who haven't seen the field yet in Cabana and Jordan Marshall.
No offense to Mr. Hayden, but I'm gonna trust Michigan's talent evals and development over OSU
Mullings is a tank with nimble feet...Haskins 2.0.
Went back and watched the all the games from this past season and Mullings was our 2nd best back over the course of the season. Edwards, of course, is dynamic and always a big play threat as seen against PSU and Washington, but he struggled for much of last year, tbh.
Assuming Edwards can revert to 2022 form, with more explosives and better vision and balance at the line, the duo will be one of the tops in the nation. Corum was special in his ability to get both explosive plays and always be good for an extra 2-3 yards after contact on inside runs - but don't think we'll have that luxury this year embodied in just 1 back. O-line will need to grow up fast.
Agreed. Mullings is great at moving the chains with his strength, speed, and vision. Maybe not a break a ton of long ones type, but running 3-10 yards is plenty enough to create a championship offense. I think he will be used more than Edwards to keep defenses focused on running while the QBs get comfortable. Edwards will be a good addition to that with explosive speed and outlet catching dump off passes. Should be fun.
We'll be fine. Edwards and Mullings are gone after this year and Hall will get carries this year. If Ka'apana is legit then I could see Cabana bolting, but anyone else leaving would be kinda silly unless they got a bag given that the starting RB spots are wide open next year
Don’t need him. But what’s bad for Ohio is good for Michigan. Huge loss for their program is great gains for us.
I don’t think losing Dallas Hayden is any bigger loss than UM losing CJ Stokes to transfer portal. Neither team hurting for running backs.
I would have left too, if I were Hayden. coming up to his third season, he maintained company line, redshirting this season as asked, then they recruit over him with Judkins, a transfer from Mississippi.
As an aside, I think Persi may hit the portal after spring ball if he’s behind Gentry and Hinton. Basing this on Nugent combine interview when he said something like: ‘I think Persi’s still on the team’
OSU's talent evaluation at RB in years prior is now UM's talent evaluator...yeah, I know... crazy shit but true.
It's a waste of everybody's time to speculate whether Michigan will snipe a former Buckeye from the portal. The answer is always no. And even if it was possible, our RB room is set.
I like Michigan's RB room too, but Moore did just hire OSU's RB coach and this kid's lead recruiter, so sniping speculation seems sensible.
If he didn't reach his full potential under Alford at OSU why would we expect him to reach it under Alford here? Unless Alford says this kid is as talented or more so than our current line up then I don't see a reason to take him.
Buckeye faithful loved him. He was their best running back going into M game 2022 and barely saw the field. This after carrying the team the previous week against Maryland, on the road. He definitely showed flashes. I think his dad played in NFL. There was a lot to like
Hayden had a hard time getting on the field because he was awful in pass protection. It was the biggest, ongoing criticism of his play.
Not usually part of the thread formatting police, but come on OP -- just a little more info in title would be helpful. Would wager that 90%+ of MGoBoard has no idea who Dallan Hayden is
Sure. He can make Edwards, Mullings and Hall some coffee and fill up their water bottles.
I don't know why he'd stay since Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, and Emmitt Smith were ahead of him on the depth chart. I mean, honestly, what business does he even have being on the roster.
Would be okay for depth, but not really a position of need. And we must limit our inheritance of cultural softness.
Over the last three years, OSU has had some running backs who ran tough and slightly scared me. Each time, OSU limited those backs in favor of a flashier player who can take it the distance against Indiana/Purdue defenses. The softness is in Ryan Day's DNA, not necessarily all of his players' DNA.
I agree. Luckily for us, those backs got planted by our boys: Ross in 2021, Sainristil in 2023. I feel like I'm missing a big hit/tackle from 2022. All I seem to remember from that game is JJ hitting open receivers, Mike S. raking out the ball, and Edwards running rampart through the heart of Ohio, twice.