#22

Hayden McDonald

Senior defensive back on Nevada's 2025 roster.

DB · Nevada · Sr. · #22

5′8″ · 177 lb · Seattle, WA

CFB Index 23 · #486 of 544 safetiesLow confidenceReturning to Nevada for 2026

The story

4 defensive back on Nevada's 2025 roster.

Signed as a 2-star recruit to Columbia in 2021.
Transferred from Columbia to Nevada in 2025.

His career, year by year

Recruiting

2★

CB recruit

No. 2536 nationally · Signed with Columbia

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

How he projects

Moves between deep coverage and the slot.

The full scouting read

Hayden McDonald

DB · Nevada · Sr · #22

Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Hayden McDonald arrived at Nevada from Columbia. The receipt on tape: 7 tackles against Penn State, Week 1, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
portal record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2025Nevada3-9HC: Jeff Choate · Run-leaning, slow tempo

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

23Below cohort / limited sample #486 of 544?

Medium confidence6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

Tackles#1098 / 2975 · 62nd pct

Solo tackles#1252 / 2975 · 56th pct

Sacks#1575 / 2975 · 24th pct

0.0

QB hurries#1662 / 2975 · 22nd pct

Tackles for loss#2332 / 2975 · 18th pct

0.5

Passes defended#1916 / 2975 · 18th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home5g	2.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
Road6g	3.5	0.1	0.0	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-76g	3.8	0.1	0.0	0.0
Weeks 8+5g	2.4	0.0	0.0	0.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Jeff Choate

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Rotational

Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

23 · #486 of 544 safeties

Two-star recruit. Now #486 at the position.

2026 outlook

Outside shot for All-Mountain West

Based on 2025: #38 of 42 Mountain West DBs

How the All-Mountain West estimate is computed

15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Nevada	35	17	0.5	0.0	--	--	--
Career		35	17	0.5	0.0	--	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025

W 20–17

vs Sacramento State

2 SOLO · 3 TOT

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 at home.

With C. Purdy — 144 yds · 0 TD · 2 INT · QBR 17.2 · 115 rush yds (21 car) · 1 TD · M. Bellon — 5 rush yds (1 car)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	INT	Note
Wk 1	L 11-46@ Penn State	7	4	0.0	—	Season-high 7 tackles
Wk 2	W 20-17vs Sacramento State	3	2	0.0	—
Wk 3	L 13-14vs Middle Tennessee	4	4	0.0	—
Wk 4	L 16-31@ Western Kentucky	5	1	0.0	—
Wk 6	L 17-20@ Fresno State	2	0	0.5	—
Wk 7	L 10-44vs San Diego State	2	1	0.0	—
Wk 8	L 22-24@ New Mexico	2	1	0.0	—
Wk 9	L 3-24vs Boise State	2	2	0.0	—
Wk 11	L 14-51@ Utah State	4	0	0.0	—
Wk 12	W 55-10vs San José State	3	2	0.0	—
Wk 13	W 13-7@ Wyoming	1	0	0.0	—
Total		35	17	0.5	—

How he plays

Play style

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

CFB Index positional classification

Activity vs finishing · season enumeration

What the box score actually says

11 games

35Tackles

17Solo

0.5TFL

0Sacks

0Pass def.

0INT

35 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 0.5 TFL.

Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.

2026 Outlook

Nevada

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Defensive back · Nevada

Returning around him

Transfer portal: -7 net (14 in / 21 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Nevada · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #118 · 2026 recruiting class #98

DNA match

Player DNA

Hybrid Nickel

Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Juan Salas’s 2025 season.

Juan Salas

78%match

Eastern Michigan · 2025

TJ Smith

Georgia Southern · 2024

77%

Kasen Kinchen

Nevada · 2025

76%

Jalen Jordan

South Alabama · 2023

71%

Dontae Pollard

Temple · 2025

71%

Matches Juan on

Tackle volume

Weight

TFL rate

Differs from Juan on

Class year (higher)

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a freshman, his production profile tracks closest to Elijah Palmer's freshman season at Hawai'i (2023).

Elijah Palmer

83%match

Hawai'i · 2023

All-Mountain West

Juan Salas

Eastern Michigan · 2025

78%

Patrick Smith-Young

Old Dominion · 2024

75%

Tyler Barnes

Southern Miss · 2020

All-Conference USA

71%

Eric Sutton

Texas State · 2021

70%

Matches Elijah on

Height

Weight

Tackle volume

Differs from Elijah on

Class year (higher)

Player DNA

Players who play like Hayden McDonald

Juan Salas

Eastern Michigan · 2025

78%

CJ Clinkscales

Charlotte · 2025

70%

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology

2021

202511 games

2025 snapshot

Splits & context

Awards

Rotational

Career stats

Signature game

Game log

How he plays

DNA match

Hybrid Nickel

Players who play like Hayden McDonald