Tikey Hayes, Nebraska football fans hardly knew ye.
They hardly knew ye because you were only a member of the Huskers for just a little over a month. The former Penn State and Iowa Western running back introduced himself to NU just ahead of Big Ten Media Days. And now he's saying goodbye for reasons that were not made public.
What Nebraska is making public is that the running back has been dismissed from the team, almost a month after the day he made his surprise arrival. Hayes transferred to Iowa Western last year, and because he was joining the Huskers via the JUCO route, he didn't have to abide by the same portal rules that would have applied had he come directly from the Nittany Lions.
Nebraska football loses Tikey Hayes from crowded running back competition
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Hayes was celebrated upon his arrival because it meant the Cornhuskers had another body in a running backs room that is a massive question. He had been competing for a role this fall alongside Mekhi Nelson, Isaiah Mozee, Jamal Rule, and the rest of Nebraska’s running back room. In Saturday’s scrimmage, Hayes took carries with NU’s top offensive units.
The Huskers didn't practice on Sunday, and by the time they returned to practice on Monday, On3 confirmed that Hayes was no longer part of the team.
Hayes departure might have telegraphed by the return of Mekhi Nelson. His addition to the roster seemed to be in case Nelson didn't get his legal issues cleared up and instead was dismissed from the team himself. However, those issues did get cleared up and Nelson was fully cleared to come back to Nebraska on the first day of Big Ten Media Days.
There was of course hope that Hayes would simply be another body that the NU coaches could lean on if Nelson didn't win the starting job. Instead of that extra body, the coaching staff will have to hope that Nelson, Mozee and Rule can really carry the rock effectively.
With the addition of Anthony Colandrea at quarterback, the running game is expected to be an even bigger part of Nebraska's attack. Tikey Hayes leaving after just over a month of being with the team is certainly one of the more bizarre stories to occur not only this year but during the Matt Rhule era in Lincoln.
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