T-Frank’s Film Room: Penn State running back commit Tiqwai Hayes
Penn State running backs coach JaJaun Seider is apparently one for working ahead. Not only does he have a tailback commit for the Class of 2026 with Messiah Mickens, but he’s presumably finished off his recruiting for 2025 with Aliquippa runner Tiqwai Hayes. The 5-10 running back is comparatively unheralded compared to the running backs in recent classes, but don’t let that fool you. The three-star prospect packs a lot of talent into his film breakdown.
Strengths
Positional skills: Saying a player is a “natural” at his position is somewhat of a disservice. It takes time and intentional practice to become good at football. But there’s no denying that some players get it, and others don’t. Hayes really gets how to play the running back position. Both on his highlight film and in full-game settings, he shows a knack for knowing which move to use and how to use it currently in a given situation. Whether he’s stiff-arming a defensive back, jumping over an ankle-biting safety, or lowering his shoulder pads to get an extra few yards in a dead look, Hayes knows what to do.
The Penn State commit’s patience and vision are admirable traits. Despite his lower ranking, Hayes is an excellent running back prospect with many of the skills you can’t measure in a testing situation.
Offensive run game exposure: The Aliquippa offense does an excellent job with it’s run game. Not only are the schemes discernible (which isn’t always the case), they run a diverse offense. Hayes has experience running in inside zone, outside zone, counter, and man concepts. In other words, he’s in a system eerily similar to the Penn State offense. That experience will give him a mental leg up on transitioning into a college system. Reducing the thinking and processing time will expedite his path to the yield.
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Burst/Contact Balance: While Hayes isn’t a big back and doesn’t run with a bruising style, he does have great overall strength. His contact balance to use the moves we outlined above stands out. With training and development, he should be an impossibly hard player to tackle.
Part of that skill to break tackles comes from good explosive movement. Hayes shows on film and in testing that he’s quick to his top speed and can exploit holes in the defense with his decisive running and quick acceleration. Based on what we’ll discuss next, his testing numbers aren’t as far off from Penn State’s 2024 running backs as you might think.
Areas of Development
Speed: While Hayes is fast enough to play at Penn State, he does need to get faster. Part of his projection is that he’ll improve his physical tools in the Nittany Lion’s strength program. Hayes is a mid-11’s track athlete, which confirms a lack of top-end speed in his profile and his 40 times of 4.74, despite his breakaway runs.
With another year of physical development in high school, plus training when he gets to Penn State, Hayes should reach an acceptable level of speed for what the Nittany Lions expect out of their runners.
Power: Hayes has an excellent baseline of physical training based on his performance. But if he’s not going to threaten the defense with breakaway speed, he’ll need to have the power to run through arm tackles routinely. At 5-10, he’s got the squatty, 190-pound frame. He should be able to reach an adequate size and have the leg drive to be a quality runner.
Blocking/receiving: While Hayes has a good deal of exposure to run concepts, he’ll need to work on his pass blocking and receiving at Penn State. Based on his defensive highlights, he seems to have good hands, but route running and understanding of leverage will be important too. His offense doesn’t throw the ball much, but when they do, he does show good awareness and toughness as a pass blocker.
Projection to Penn State
RB: Seider has proven that a dual-running back backfield is not only possible but a benefit to each player. No comparison is perfect, but Hayes is a Kayton Allen-Style runner with the moves, vision, and positional skills to elevate his physical profile. Will he be a dominant tailback who demands the lead role? If he can improve his speed and testing metrics, he could. But more importantly, he’s a good enough athlete on his projected path to compete for snaps in the Penn State backfield when his time comes.
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