Former Ohio State running back Dallan Hayden will visit Deion Sanders at the University of Colorado after entering the transfer portal. A trip to Boulder creates an interesting dichotomy to his prior comments about what he seeks from his next program.
Let’s break it down.
Hayden, a former four-star prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2022, committed to the Buckeyes over 30 other scholarship offers. Notre Dame, Utah, Penn State, Oregon, Georgia, Florida and Kansas were among those who were in heavy pursuit of the Memphis-native. He chose to play in Columbus.
His first two years at Ohio State were not what he had hoped. Dallan Hayden average 5.8 yards per attempt on 111 carries as a freshman in 2022 but saw his usage decline to just 19 carries last season and took a redshirt. Now, with both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins on the roster, there are not enough touches to go around.
Thus, Dallan Hayden chose to leave.
The 5-foot-1, 205-pound redshirt sophomore told On3’s Steve Wiltfong that he is looking for “the opportunity to be the guy.” This is where things get interesting with the Buffaloes.
Former AAC Rookie of the Year Alton McCaskill was a budding superstar at running back for Houston before transferring to Colorado. He got just 14 carries in his lone season with Coach Prime’s program and recently announced his decision to re-enter the transfer portal. A lack of playing time as the starter was the primary reason for McCaskill’s departure.
His father called out Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes’ coaching staff for “favoritism.” It likely referred to their unwillingness to give McCaskill the starting job over Dylan Edwards.
Now Hayden, who wants to be RB1, is visiting a school that essentially ran off its RB2 because it would not play him over Edwards. That’s rather interesting.
Will he not run into the same issue as McCaskill? Will Colorado be willing to give him an equal or greater number of carries as Edwards? Would Coach Prime make him “the guy” like he wants to be?
Time will tell…
Remember this potential chasm if Hayden does transfer to Colorado and doesn’t get the amount of touches he covets. The writing could already be on the wall!