Posted at 6:00am — 5/3/2012
Michigan Football: Coach’s Corner — Justice Hayes — Running Back — Wolverine’s Spring Football — GBMWolverine Evaluations
GBMWolverine Football Spring Evaluations: Position-by-Position — Player Profile.
GBMWolverine readers: Here is a brief overview of Justice Hayes and GBMWolverine’s analysis concerning his progress this spring in our opinion.
Note: We will not evaluate every player on the team and with this position group (Running Backs) we will not evaluate #99 Paul Gyarmati who plays fullback and linebacker. If you would like to chat about this player bring them up on the message board or send us an e-mail request.
Reminder: Also noted that we didn’t attend every practice and realize things happen during those fifteen practices, but our evaluations are based on what we seen first hand and in our opinion and not what we hear like just about every other site out there that relies on second, third hand information to make their evaluations of the players during the spring.
Losing from 2011 (Team #132) on scholarship: Michael Shaw (NFL – Redskins Free Agent), Michael Cox (Graduated and transferred to UMass), and John McColgan (FB).
Coming in for 2012 (Team #133) on scholarship: Drake Johnson, Sione Houma (FB), and Dennis Norfleet.
Commit for 2013 (Team #134) on scholarship: DeVeon Smith and Wyatt Shallman (FB).
Justice Hayes
Height: 5’10
Weight: 176
Number: 5
Position: Running Back
Year: Red-shirt Freshman
City/State: Grand Blanc, Mich.
High School: Grand Blanc Community
High School Coach: Joe Delaney
Justice Hayes was one of two running backs from the 2011 class. The verdict is he has made noticeable improvement over last season.
Perhaps the biggest difference is size, and Justice definitely showed the benefit of off-season work. He is a clear candidate for special teams and the opinion is that Justice will be able to see time on the field in 2012.
He is probably the fastest and most elusive running back currently on the roster.
In our opinion Justice is the best receiver of the backs, he can also play the slot if needed. His 2012 position may depend on two factors: first, his success as a runner, and second the success level of the other slots.
Justice has to improve ball security and continue to get stronger. There were a few instances where we saw the ball on the turf, but you have to give the defensive player credit as well. But coaches tell running backs it doesn’t matter how big of a hit is given, or what happens, the #1 responsibility is holding on to the ball, especially as a back-up where a player gets limited reps and carries. If a back-up runner puts the ball on the turf, he will likely get demoted and others will move ahead in the feeding order.
He also needs to watch his pad level.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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