Nebraska added Tikey Hayes on Tuesday afternoon, and the running back transfer is expected to join the Huskers when fall camp opens later this month. The move gives Nebraska another body in a room that has been short on college experience.
Hayes, who started at Penn State and spent this spring at Iowa Western Community College, brings a profile Nebraska clearly wanted. He is 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, and he played in one game last year, finishing with 3 carries for 18 yards against Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. In the search for help at running back, that matters because Nebraska’s room currently includes only Mekhi Nelson and Isaiah Mozee with real college experience in Lincoln.
The reason Hayes stands out is not just where he has been, but what he has done when he has had the ball. He was a former 3-star back who piled up 2,011 yards and 33 touchdowns on 198 carries as a sophomore, then followed with 2,239 yards and 26 touchdowns on 230 carries as a junior, before finishing his senior season with 1,022 yards and 17 touchdowns on 97 carries. For a roster looking for depth, that kind of production is hard to ignore.
There is also a sharper edge to the move. Hayes was projected to be Iowa Western Community College’s starting running back this fall, which makes Nebraska’s late-season pull of him more than a simple add-to-the-room transaction. Scott Strohmeier said he was informed on Monday night and that Nebraska was taking Hayes as a late-season add, a sign the switch came quickly even by transfer standards. Hayes left Penn State in January, was with Iowa Western Community College this spring, and is now headed back into the Big Ten orbit.
That is what Nebraska is buying: a back who has already seen Power 4 football, has productive rushing seasons on his record and can join a group that needed another experienced option. The open question is not whether Hayes can get there in time for fall camp. It is how quickly Nebraska turns him from a fresh arrival into someone it can actually lean on.
