Hayden Moore Returns to Michigan After Changing Sides

Michigan might not recognize Hayden Moore.

As he returns to the Big House this weekend for the first time since leaving the Wolverines for the University of Washington football team, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore is notably heavier and hairier. He's an edge rusher, no longer an inside linebacker.

Moore is that rare Michigan-to-Washington transfer, sharing this distinction with wide receiver Giles Jackson, who came to Montlake in 2021 and has since graduated.

For Saturday's game in Ann Arbor, Moore will line up on the UW's punt-block and kick-return teams.

He has appeared in all six Husky games (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) this fall, and nine overall in two seasons.

Hayden Moore deals with dummy-holding edge coach Aaron Van Horn. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Michigan found him in Parker, Colorado, brought him East and redshirted him in 2023.

"I didn't play a whole lot that year, so I just tried to soak in as much knowledge as I could from that team," he said.

As the above photo confirms, Moore dressed for the College Football Playoff national championship game against the Huskies in Houston and was a spectator in a uniform during the Wolverines' 34-13 victory.

He came away with a ring, but never played in a game in the Big House, which will change this weekend. He left with Michigan memories limited to winning defensive scout team player of the week four times.

Moore entered the transfer portal and turned up in Seattle not long after the coaching changes that sent Wolverines' coach Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers and the UW's Kalen DeBoer to Alabama.

Hayden Moore takes aim at a blocking dummy. | Skylar Lin Visuals

"I didn't really think of it as too weird at all," he said of changing sides from the CFP title-game match-up. "Opportunity came and I took it, and I saw this place as the best fit."

The Huskies brought him along slow, teaching him their defensive scheme before using him against UCLA, Oregon and Louisville in the Sun Bowl as a special-teams player to close out the 2024 football season. He watched as the UW beat Michigan in Montlake earlier in the season.

During spring football, the Huskies moved him to a new position and have continued to use him on special teams.

Hayden Moore, Jacob Lane and Isaiah Ward each are edge-rusher candidates for the Huskies. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Along the way, Moore made an unusual friendship, chatting up former UW defensive-line coach Randy Hart, who's been a spectator at spring practice. One was a one-time Michigan man, the other a former Ohio State Buckeyes lineman, forming a friendship after they weren't supposed to like each other because of their allegiances.

He'll be back at Michigan and the Big House on Saturday and he doesn't have to like the Wolverines anymore either.

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