Michigan Football: How much will Ryan Hayes play against Army?

Ryan Hayes an offensive tackle for Michigan football surprised last week starting for Jon Runyan Jr. It begs the question will he start versus Army?

Last week against Middle Tennessee State, one of the big surprises was that Michigan football didn’t have its starting tackle in Jon Runyan, who many believe in the Wolverines best offensive lineman.

It was a bit of a shock when Runyan was on the injury report and with him out of the lineup, it forced Ryan Hayes to be the starting left tackle.

It was the first start for the redshirt freshman who played tight end in high school and was viewed as a long-term project when he arrived on campus in 2018. He’s big, athletic and has great feet.

While it seemed like it might take Michigan football some time to get him ready, he took to playing tackle a lot quicker than imagined. Of course, Ed Warriner was a big help with that.

But when comparing Jalen Mayfield, a first-time starter at right tackle last week and Hayes, who started on the left side, it appeared that Hayes had the better performance. He didn’t give up any pressures and didn’t have any penalties.

Mayfield was fine, but he did give up some pressure on the quarterback and wasn’t flawless. However, he knows he needs to improve. Here’s what he told the Michigan Insider ($):

“I played overall pretty well,” Mayfield said of his first career start. “There is definitely some things I can improve on. It’s just an exciting game to play. I just can’t wait for more.”

To be fair, it was Mayfield’s first start and wanting to replace him with Hayes on the right side may be premature. Yet, Hayes is a monster at 6-foot-7 and after winning offensive player of the week last week, he at least deserves a look.

The big question leading into Saturday is whether or not Runyan will be healthy enough to go. The coaching staff would probably like to get him on the field so the Wisconsin game isn’t his first game action and he seems healthy.

If he plays, it’s easy to see Hayes rotating in and out with him on the left side, especially if the game gets out of hand a little. But if it’s competitive, it will be really interesting to see how much Hayes and Mayfield rotate on the right side.

Harbaugh said there could be a competition there and if Hayes proves to be the better player, Michigan football has to start him.

Either way, the concern about offensive tackle depth seems to have been overstated. Even without Andrew Stueber, it looks like the Wolverines have more than enough good tackles to make it through the season. Even if more injuries hit.