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Ohio State Turns To Dallan Hayden At Maryland Amid Injuries, Rushing Woes

The freshman rushed for a career-high 146 yards and three touchdowns with Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson sidelined.

Andrew Lind

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Ohio State turned to freshman running back Dallan Hayden in the second half of Saturday’s 43-30 win at Maryland, mostly out of necessity but partly because the struggling offense needed a spark.

The Buckeyes were already without redshirt sophomore Miyan Williams, who suffered an ankle injury in last week’s win over Indiana, when sophomore TreVeyon Henderson aggravated his lingering foot injury on a second-quarter carry.

He was largely ineffective to that point, with just 19 yards on 11 carries in his first game back following a two-game absence, and Ohio State found itself trailing by three at the start of the third quarter. That’s when Hayden made his presence felt.

After safety Lathan Ransom blocked his second punt in as many weeks on the Terrapins’ opening drive of the second half, Hayden quickly found the end zone from eight yards out to give the Buckeyes a 17-13 lead. 

Two drives later, he carried the ball nine times for 45 yards, including a three-yard touchdown run that put Ohio State ahead by two scores in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

“We didn't quite get the running game going there in the first half, then made the change to Dallan and he really got us into a rhythm,” head coach Ryan Day said after the game. “I thought he was hitting the holes hard … For a young player with so much on the line here today, to play like that – first off, to take care of the football, that's the No. 1 thing.

“When you hand somebody that football, you’re putting the whole team in their hands. That’s something we talk about a lot, and so we trusted that Dallan was going to do that. He’s had a couple spots this year, but this was big. For him to get this game under his belt, I think it’ll build some confidence for him.”

Hayden added a 13-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, then carried the ball nine additional times – including runs of 11 and 18 yards – to help the Buckeyes run the clock after Maryland closed the gap to three points late.

He finished the game with 146 yards and three scores on 27 carries, all career highs. It was also Hayden’s second straight game over the 100-yard mark, as he rushed for 102 yards and one touchdown against the Hoosiers after Williams went down.

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“He’s seeing it, and I think when you see him hit it, he’s running through contact. You can just feel him,” Day said “He’s got really good feet and made some guys miss. Even at the end there, when it was the four-minute drill and they had everyone in there.

“We had to run it to eat up the clock, and as frustrating as that is and as hard as it is, you’ve got to do it. But there were a couple of extra guys in the hole that he made miss and he kept the chains moving and got us on schedule. I thought it was done well.”

As for Henderson, Day said he had a “great” week of practice leading up to the game but is still “working through” the injury. He notably watched the second half in a walking boot, bringing his status for next week’s game against Michigan into question.

Williams, meanwhile, did not travel with the team to College Park, but Day suggested he could be healthy enough to play next Saturday against Wolverines. If not, though, the Buckeyes will have to lean on Hayden once again.

“That is the hope,” Day said when asked about Williams’ status moving forward. “It was trending that way (in practice).”

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Andrew Lind
ANDREW LIND

Andrew Lind is an Ohio State beat writer and photographer at BuckeyesNow, founder of The Ohio State Uniform Database and the NCAA and NFL writer at SportsLogos.net.

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