Hayden McDonald is a defensive back who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Nevada.
McDonald moves between deep coverage and the slot. Arrived at Nevada from Columbia. On tape: 7 tackles against Penn State, Week 1, 2025.
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
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.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Nevada | 35 | 17 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Career | 35 | 17 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 11 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 11-46@ No. 2 Penn State | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 20-17vs Sacramento State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | L 13-14vs Middle Tennessee | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 16-31@ Western Kentucky | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 17-20@ Fresno State | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | L 10-44vs San Diego State | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 22-24@ New Mexico | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 3-24vs Boise State | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | L 14-51@ Utah State | 4 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 55-10vs San José State | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | W 13-7@ Wyoming | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 35 | 17 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
0%0 pass breakupsTackle volume
35tackles this seasonTFL rate
1%0 TFL35 tackles · 0.5 for loss.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 11 games
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
Head Coach
Jeff Choate
Pass share
42.6%
306 pass / 413 run
Plays / game
59.9
12 games
Team sack rate
5.1%
331 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
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
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
