Freshman running back Dallan Hayden speaks with media after Ohio State’s first preseason practice Thursday. Credit: Gabe Burggraf | Assistant LTV Sports Producer
There are 10 Zaxby’s in Memphis, Tennessee.
When freshman running back Dallan Hayden discovered there are zero in Columbus — and in Ohio — he said he was forced to expand his “food tree.”
“I feel like when I got here June 6, I ate Cane’s almost everyday,” Hayden said.
Along with navigating nutrition, the 195-pound Memphian is taking bites out of a new playbook and system in a veteran running back room where coach Tony Alford said Hayden can “take a deep breath” and “learn the game.”
“Dallan goes 100 miles an hour,” Alford said. “He’s very hard on himself. He’s a guy that you can tell he wants to do things perfectly and it bothers him immensely if he doesn’t. He’s going to be a really good player.”
Hayden said his running style has an emphasis on speed and “trying to get downhill.”
“I can try to outrun, make a move,” Hayden said. “I just feel like my benefit is always being full speed.”
Hayden said he looks to model his game after former Buckeye running back Ezekiel Elliott.
“I just like his ability to get downhill, finish through contact and he runs with a purpose,” Hayden said.
Hayden said Alford’s development of “guys like ‘Zeke,” including former Ohio State running backs J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber played a role in his recruitment.
“Everything coach Alford’s doing is for a reason,” Hayden said. “Obviously his track record, all the backs he’s coached have done very well so he obviously knows what he’s doing, and I just try to take his coaching to make me a better player.”
Hayden’s full speed is “impressive,” Alford said, and the Buckeyes aren’t “going to have to ask him to go faster,” but acknowledged control will be a focus.
With a few collegiate practices now under his belt, Hayden said he’s recognized he has to slow himself down at times, including a lesson from day one of preseason camp Thursday.
“I was kind of going too fast,” Hayden said. “Coach Day told me, ‘Slow down.’ That’s kind of always been an issue for me. All I know is ‘go full speed.’”
Despite living in Columbus for the summer and physically preparing for competition, Hayden said he’s working to get on the same page absorbing Ohio State’s playbook, taking notes in meetings with the coaching staff and revisiting them later.
“It’s imperative because if you don’t know what you’re doing, there’s no way you can play or any of that,” Hayden said. “You got to know what you’re doing, so everyday when I met with coach Alford or coach Reilley Jeffers, I take notes, and then when I be in the dorm, I just study my notes for like an hour or longer if I have to.”
Buckeye redshirt freshman running back Evan Pryor said the 195-pound Memphian “can do some things” better than he could as a true freshman last season.
“He’s done a great job coming in learning things and now he’s starting to put it to the field,” Pryor said. “In his actions, you’re starting to get reps, and it’s just all starting to come together.”
Along with his intense training at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Hayden said his football foundations are “good,” stemming from family.
His father Aaron Hayden played running back at Tennessee in the early ‘90s and registered four seasons in the NFL with three different teams, and his older brother Chase Hayden played collegiate football at Arkansas and Illinois.
Dallan Hayden said he benefited from the extra work he put in while training with his father.
“I’ve been training with him since I was young and we’ve been doing stuff that younger kids probably can‘t do,” Dallan Hayden said. “It’s definitely prepared me.”
With the Fighting Irish scheduled for a trip to Columbus Sept. 3, Dallan Hayden’s enjoying the opportunity to face Notre Dame in his first game representing the scarlet and gray.
Dallan Hayden said he “can learn something from each and every one” of the Buckeyes’ running backs and is glad to be in the room with them as he’s confident it will make him better.
With that in mind, Dallan Hayden said he’s focused on consistent improvement as September nears.
“I just feel like I got to keep getting better,” Dallan Hayden said. “Keep stacking days and I’ll be fine.”
