Hayden’s future bright even after Christian Brothers’ loss
Dallan Hayden's breakout junior season is over after Christian Brothers dropped its DII-AAA state quarterfinal game to defending state champion Mccallie 42-28 on Friday night.
It's the second straight year that the Blue Tornado eliminated the Purple Wave in the playoffs.
Hayden, a four-star running back and Tennessee Titans Mr. Football semifinalist, made it easy to forget that this season was his first time starting at running back.
"He worked his tail off in the offseason and he's exceeded my expectations," said his dad, former Tennessee running back Aaron Hayden. "I knew that he would be a good running back, but I didn't know he would be elite. If you look at the game right there you've got 9-10 people in the box trying to stop him and he's still able to get yards. I think he still has a lot to learn. A lot to learn about himself. His confidence will only continue to grow."
The 5-foot-11, 192 pound tailback is the No. 8 prospect in Tennessee according to the 247Sports Composite and picked up offers from Oregon, Notre Dame, and Ohio State during the season.
Christian Brothers coach Thomas Mcdaniel said that he believes Hayden can get even better as he adds more strength and speed.
"When you look at his maturation from sophomore to junior year he's going to end up being a bigger, stronger, faster kid next year. I still think the best is yet to come for him,"
said Mcdaniel.
Hayden put on 20 pounds during the off-season and his dad estimates that he can add 10-15 more. He's looking forward to lifting and running track. He placed 7th in the 400-meter dash at the DII-AAA state meet in 2018 with a time of 51.69 seconds. The state meet was canceled in 2019 due to COVID-19.
Even though his dad played running back in college and in the NFL, and his older brother, Chase, is a running back at East Carolina, Dallan tried to specialize as a defensive back last year.
He said that he started playing running back because Christian Brothers needed a ball carrier heading into the season.
"I just knew they were going to need me to run the ball this year and they depended on me. I'd say it worked out pretty well," Dallan said.
Aaron Hayden said that the next step in his son's development is getting better at making defenders miss once he reaches the secondary.
"He didn't have to do it a lot because he just outran people but if he wants to go to an elite school then he'll have to do that," Aaron Hayden said.
The Purple Wave moved the ball efficiently on the opening drive and scored a quick touchdown. But Christian Brothers muffed a punt, setting up Mccallie's first touchdown. Then Mccallie ran back a punt for a touchdown. The Purple Wave never recovered and the game quickly became a blowout.
"They did everything we thought they would do. We left it all out on the field and the better team won," said Hayden.