'So much juice': Michigan RB Hassan Haskins 'wants to have the team on his back'

To say Michigan football played through redshirt sophomore running back Hassan Haskins in a 21-17 win at Penn State last Saturday would be an understatement.

Without second-year freshman running back Blake Corum, the team’s leader in all-purpose yardage, Haskins carried the bulk of the load, rushing a career-high 31 times for 156 yards (five yards per carry) and catching five passes for 45 yards. A whopping 104 of his 156 yards came after contact (3.5 yards after contact per carry), according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

On Michigan’s game-winning drive in the fourth quarter, Haskins got things going with a 17-yard gash off the right side. He carried it five times on the possession, also moving the chains on a third-and-two just before the Wolverines’ cashed in on a 47-yard touchdown pass.

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A stunning 598 of his 985 yards have come after contact this season. He’s just 15 yards shy of becoming the Wolverines’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Karan Higdon in 2018 and the second U-M running back to accomplish the feat since 2011.

He leads all Power Five running backs with 70 first downs.

Asked by host and former U-M All-American Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan Football radio show Monday night if he’s seen a more “complete, tough physical and quiet leader” as Haskins, Harbaugh was hesitant to put him in a class of his own. The head man will rave about his players, but he often stops short of making comparisons.

“Yeah, [junior defensive end] Aidan Hutchinson, Hassan Haskins. I have seen guys like that. Just real football players, all the way. [Sixth-year senior center] Andrew Vastardis has been that way, and [fifth-year senior safety] Brad Hawkins. There’s a list.”

However, Harbaugh added: “Nobody more than Hassan, by any means. He’s definitely got that mindset — like Aidan does, really — they’re willing and they want to have the team on their back. They want their number called in tough situations. You’ve got to pick up this first down. We’ve got to get this stop. They’re special, and real football players. What more do you need to say — football player.”

Haskins’ relentless play and workman-like attitude is inspiring and contagious to his Michigan teammates.

“It brings so much juice,” second-year freshman right guard Zak Zinter said when asked what kind of impact Haskins’ tough runs in which he pulls a pile of tacklers with him does for the rest of the offense. “Someone wraps him up — and then one guy gets in there, the next guy; we’ve got the whole offense. Even [redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara is] in there pushing the pile most of the time. It just brings juice to all of us, brings us to life.”

“It’s a combination of extreme physical talent and a lot of practice on the fundamentals,” McNamara said of his running back. “Hassan is an extremely good player. We love what he does, we appreciate it a lot and we know that … I mean, 31 carries is a lot — that’s a huge load.

“It’s incredible that he’s just ready to go practice today. That’s just the dude he is, and there are a lot of guys on this team that would sacrifice the same amount for this team. But what Hassan has done this year is extraordinary, as well.”

While Haskins has been outstanding as a runner for Michigan, perhaps no play Saturday better exemplified the way he plays and the impact he has than his incredible pass block early in the third quarter in which his brute force lifted a Penn State defender into the air and knocked him over.

“It was a decleater,” Harbaugh said.

“I’ll tell you who’s reaction — how about [redshirt junior right tackle] Andrew Stueber’s reaction? And it wasn’t one of those rib shots or anything. What Hassan did was he just stepped in front of Stueber, basically, and knocked the defensive end on his back. A decleater. The reaction is priceless, really, from Stueber, because he looks over to the sideline and he just points — ’Did you see that?’ That was priceless.”

We spotlight Hassan Haskins' skills as a runner all of the time.

Here's 1⃣ minute of him pass-blocking. 👀@H2_3125 // @UMichFootball pic.twitter.com/ryVYRiBwit

— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) November 15, 2021