2019 Season Countdown: #77 Ryan Hayes

2019 Season Countdown: #77 Ryan Hayes


June 10, 2019
Ryan Hayes (image via Wolverines Wire)

Name: Ryan Hayes
Height:
6’7″
Weight:
271 lbs.
High school:
Traverse City (MI) West
Position:
Offensive tackle
Class:
Redshirt freshman
Jersey number:
#76
Last year:
I ranked Hayes #81 and said he would be a backup tight end (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating:
84

When Hayes moved to campus last year, it was clear that the process for him would take some time. He was listed at 262 lbs. last season, which was naturally going to prevent him from playing offensive line. He spent some time at tight end, as promised, but that didn’t get him on the field.

Now Hayes is listed as an offensive lineman at 271 lbs. While I have heard he is a bit heavier than that, his lack of size and strength is still going to be an obstacle. Michigan has at least three tackles ahead of him (Jon Runyan, Andrew Stueber, and Jalen Mayfield), along with some incoming freshman who are already bigger. Size isn’t always the deciding factor, but you generally have to meet a certain threshold to have a chance. Hayes will likely start to see some playing time in blowouts this season.

Prediction: Backup offensive tackle

20 comments

  1. Comments: 1863
    Joined: 1/19/2016
    je93
    Jun 10, 2019 at 11:11 AM

    Looking forward to seeing hayes … next year

  2. Comments: 6285
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    Lanknows
    Jun 10, 2019 at 1:00 PM

    I don’t see any way Hayes is making a meaningful contribution in 2019 at 280 or less. He’ll play some backup snaps maybe, but probably somebody like Spanellis or a freshman are going to start at OT if injuries strike down 2 others.

  3. Comments: 1364
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    WindyCityBlue
    Jun 10, 2019 at 4:52 PM

    Hayes is the kind of guy who was going to have to put on 40-50 lbs to be the kind of player we need him to be, and he doesn’t seem to have made much progress in that direction. With the kind of attrition we’re likely to have, we need guys who are ready to start by their second or third year. Four or five year projects are a luxury we can’t afford.

    • Comments: 6285
      Joined: 8/11/2015
      Lanknows
      Jun 10, 2019 at 7:30 PM

      What is your proposed solution to cut back on this “luxury” of waiting on some players to develop?

      • Comments: 1364
        Joined: 8/11/2015
        WindyCityBlue
        Jun 11, 2019 at 6:29 AM

        Why do you always lie about what I’ve said? I did not say that simply developing players is a luxury. I said that taking 4 or 5 years to develop players is a luxury. And the solution is to recruit more guys who are ready to play sooner. With transfers becoming more and more prevalent, projects will become more and more of an indulgence, especially if you want to compete at a championship level.

        • Comments: 3844
          Joined: 7/13/2015
          Jun 11, 2019 at 6:36 AM

          I just don’t think that’s true. Basically, what you’re talking about is 5-stars and high 4-stars, a.k.a. elite recruits. Elite recruits are ready to play early. Everyone already wants them, but not everyone can get them. So teams take projects.

          A lot of “projects” KNOW they’re projects. Ryan Hayes didn’t come to Michigan thinking he could play offensive tackle at 260 lbs. And if transfers become more and more prevalent, that means other teams are weakened by losing transfers, too. So it doesn’t really matter.

          This is your Negative Nancy viewpoint kicking in, as if other teams don’t also have the same issues that Michigan does. The reality of college football is that there will always be ready-to-play guys, and there will always be guys who need to wait a few years before they’re ready.

          • Comments: 1364
            Joined: 8/11/2015
            WindyCityBlue
            Jun 11, 2019 at 8:25 AM

            Yes, thanks for letting me know that all teams have guys who don’t play right away. Duh.

            The point is that teams playing at the level we want to be, the level Harbaugh was allegedly going to take us to, have fewer. They have more players who are ready to contribute at a high level sooner, more guys who can step in if someone gets hurt or leaves early, and fewer guys who just take up scholarship space. Hayes is just a symptom of that (ongoing) problem.

          • Comments: 6285
            Joined: 8/11/2015
            Lanknows
            Jun 11, 2019 at 11:03 AM

            I think it’s less a negative nancy than just BE ALABAMA.

        • Comments: 6285
          Joined: 8/11/2015
          Lanknows
          Jun 11, 2019 at 11:08 AM

          Touchy touchy.

          I think this can really go either way. If you have a culture of retention and player development then the majority of your starters will be 4th and 5th year guys and younger players will expect to wait their turn. This probably hurts in recruiting rankings but has benefits to performance that offset it, though we can debate how much.

          For a program like Michigan – you really want to try to do both. Not going to be able to recruit a class with 20 top 100 recruits in it, but you can get some. That’s enough to win titles but you still have to be patient and develop (and retain) others.

          Michigan isn’t Alabama. They’re also not Wisconsin/MSU. If you want them to win titles they’ll have to find another way to beat Alabama/Clemson/OSU because they’re not going to out-talent these teams. Scheme and player development are other opportunities.

          Jon Runyan and Carlo Kemp aren’t the problem — James Hudson and Aubrey Solomon are.

          • Comments: 1364
            Joined: 8/11/2015
            WindyCityBlue
            Jun 11, 2019 at 3:01 PM

            Sorry, but I continue to be unimpressed by this argument. Clemson wasn’t this good until they were, and neither was Alabama. We used to actually beat OSU on a regular basis and win conference championships. Saying “We’re not team X” is just silliness.

            • Comments: 6285
              Joined: 8/11/2015
              Lanknows
              Jun 11, 2019 at 3:40 PM

              Look at a map of where elite talent comes from.

            • Comments: 3844
              Joined: 7/13/2015
              Jun 11, 2019 at 4:43 PM

              Who’s saying we don’t want Michigan to beat OSU and win conference championships regularly? I must have missed that conversation.

              I’ve got bad news for you: Alabama’s starting center (Chris Owens) didn’t earn the starting job until his 4th year, and the right guard (Matt Womack) didn’t start until his third year. But here we are on a post about a guy entering his second season and wondering why he hasn’t developed yet.

              Michigan’s starting linemen from left to right (not counting the RT since we don’t know who it will be) became starters in year 4, year 1, year 2, and year 2.

    • Comments: 33
      AA7596
      Jun 10, 2019 at 8:42 PM

      Seems like he’s doing fine. 271 is what’s on the spring roster, which is from April. If he’s 280 in the fall, then 290 next spring, he’d be on track to be a playable size in 2020 as an RS SO.

      • Comments: 3844
        Joined: 7/13/2015
        Jun 10, 2019 at 10:22 PM

        Yeah, I’m not too concerned with his weight. The coaching staff recruited him with the full knowledge that he was about 40-50 pounds too light to play offensive tackle, and they know adding 40-50 pounds doesn’t happen overnight. This is the progression that the coaches were probably envisioning. They know it’s a process. If they wanted someone to play immediately, they would have recruited a guy who’s already 290+ pounds.

        • Comments: 1364
          Joined: 8/11/2015
          WindyCityBlue
          Jun 11, 2019 at 6:36 AM

          The coaches may be envisioning that, but Hayes could very well look at the depth chart next spring, when he’s still underweight, decide he doesn’t want to wait two more years, and go elsewhere for playing time. Either that, or we’ll have to play him before the coaches had planned because someone above him bolts. Or he just hangs around for 4 years and then gets the handshake and grad transfers. Stepping in and being a high quality starter by his third year looks like his least likely destiny at this point.

          • Comments: 3844
            Joined: 7/13/2015
            Jun 11, 2019 at 6:45 AM

            Okay, fine. That’s happening elsewhere, too, and it has been for a long time. That’s what I’m saying. We lose someone, and we add Shea Patterson (Ole Miss lost him). We lose someone, and we add Mike Danna (CMU lost him). We lose someone, and we pick up an extra recruit in the next class. Oh well.

            • Comments: 1364
              Joined: 8/11/2015
              WindyCityBlue
              Jun 11, 2019 at 8:29 AM

              Yes, transfers happen everywhere. Thanks for stating the obvious again. See the real point above. It’s not about doing better than Miss. State or Purdue or Cal.

              • Comments: 3844
                Joined: 7/13/2015
                Jun 11, 2019 at 11:34 AM

                Yes, thanks for letting me know that it’s not about doing better than Miss. State or Purdue or Cal. Duh.

                You’re still missing the point. If every team could get guys who can contribute immediately, they would. But there are also a ton of high-level players who take years to develop, like J.J. Watt and Eric Fisher. Jeremy Clark is an example of a Michigan player who wasn’t great his first few years, but he developed into an NFL draft pick by his fifth year. If Michigan only wanted guys who could contribute immediately, he wouldn’t have been on the roster. Cullen Christian contributed immediately…and did jack squat in college.

              • Comments: 6285
                Joined: 8/11/2015
                Lanknows
                Jun 11, 2019 at 3:54 PM

                Chase Winovich wasn’t a regular starter until his 4th year. He backed up Taco Charlton – same for him. Somehow this is a problem?

                I think Michigan can afford the ‘luxury’ of having high upside players develop. I think they should have the ‘luxury’ of letting 4-star recruits develop in backup roles before being thrown into starting roles.

                Not everybody has to be Peppers or Gary.

          • Comments: 6285
            Joined: 8/11/2015
            Lanknows
            Jun 11, 2019 at 11:20 AM

            As somebody who argued red-shirts were failures in the past, I understand where this is coming from. It is better for the program if people can contribute faster – duh.

            However, OL is not a position where you can expect players to come in an start in year 2 or 3. That’s just not how it works out for the majority of players – even at top-10 programs.

            Michigan football would be dramatically better off if they had been retaining and developing 4th or 5th year guys the last 5-10 years so that they weren’t relying on plug-and-play freshman. You can blame bad recruiting for this if you want, but OL is largely about molding big humans and the recruiting rankings for them are notoriously wonky.

            We lost 5th years on a lot of good players because we were following the approach of putting in the talented guys that came in right away. The program has not benefited from impatience.

            I think this is just a weird way to grumble for better recruits. Nobody would have a problem with that. But for now here is reality where not everyone is going to be ready to be a starter, even in their 3rd year, but can still be an all-conference player or even an all-america.

            Development is not a luxury it is a reality.

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