Traverse City (Mich.) West three-star offensive tackle/tight end Ryan Hayes (announced as a tight end by the school) is officially a part of the Michigan football program.
Measurables
• Ran a 4.97 40-yard dash at his high school's end-of-year testing.
Statistics
• In his senior season, he had 24 receptions for 515 yards and five touchdowns while playing tight end and 26 tackles, six tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks as a defensive end.
• As a junior, he caught 20 passes for 311 yards.
Honors
• Tabbed as a second-team tight end on the All-USA Michigan squad by USA Today High School Sports.
• Detroit Free Press and Detroit News Dream Team (all-divisions All-State squad) in 2017 as a defensive lineman.
• Associated Press Michigan First-Team All-State.
• Division 2 All-State first-team pick following his junior season by the Associated Press (lineman) and Detroit Free Press (tight end).
• Ranked the No. 11 football player in Michigan by the Detroit Free Press prior to the start of his senior season.
• Big North Conference Basketball Player of the Year and the Big North Conference Pitcher of the Year as a junior.
• Named Male Athlete of the Year by the Traverse City Record Eagle after his performances in all three sports as a junior.
Recruitment
• Committed to Michigan on May 27, 2017.
• He chose Michigan over Notre Dame, Michigan State, Northwestern, Minnesota, TCU, Virginia, Cal and others.
• Michigan tackles and tight ends coach Greg Frey led his recruitment.
Notable
• Born on February 28, 2000.
• His mother played basketball at Central Michigan and is a member of the CMU Hall of Fame. Her 1,938 career points there were a school record until 2015.
• His father played football at Central Michigan.
• Older brother, Connor, signed to play football at Pittsburgh in 2014.
• He also plays basketball and baseball. He was the Big North Conference Basketball Player of the Year and the league's Baseball Pitcher of the Year as both a junior and senior. He averaged 12.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game on the hardwood, and struck out 102 batters in 59 innings with a 0.475 earned run average on the diamond. Averaged 12.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as a junior on the varsity basketball team.
2018 Projection
At 6-7, 250 pounds, Hayes is a big boy at tight end. He played in a run-heavy offense in high school, which allowed him to take on the role as lead blocker more than anything, but was definitely a threat to catch the ball because he was so much bigger and stronger than just about everyone he faced.
Hayes' future is intriguing because he's being brought in as a jumbo tight end but could easily transition to tackle if he grows the right way. In either scenario, he likely won't see a ton of playing time as a true freshman because he'll be behind junior-to-be Sean McKeon and redshirt junior-to-be Zach Gentry, among others, at tight end and will be undersized if he ends up on the O-line.
They Said It
• Rivals.com midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt: "He hasn’t focused specifically on offensive line play and he’s a little behind the curve from a fundamental standpoint, but nothing that says he can’t get there with coaching. He has that above-average athleticism for offensive tackle. Him playing tight end in high school is fine, actually. It keeps him light on his feet and keeps him athletic. He’s not a guy who will play as a true freshman but he can develop after a couple of years."
• Traverse City West offensive line/special teams coach Greg Vaughan: "When you have the kind of size he does, you can often times do whatever you want with him. He’s a super-coachable kid, so he wants to be as good as he possibly can be. Part of that involves him coming in and working with us 1-on-1 as a tackle, because he knows that’s what he might play in the future. The work he puts in off the field shows how great of a team player he really is."
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