Mercury Hayes

The Effort tied Jack Clancy's 1966 single-game total and Amani Toomer's 1994 single-game total for fourth on the Michigan all-time single game reception yards list.

It is worth noting that Clancy is the Michigan all-time single-game yardage recordholder at 197 yards.

Mercury Wayne Hayes (born January 1, 1973) is a former professional American football and Canadian football wide receiver, kickoff returner, and punt returner.

He has played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, and he has played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Montreal Alouettes.

Prior to his professional football experience he was a University of Michigan Wolverines football star.

Hayes was a member of the 1992 Big Ten Champions who won the 1993 Rose Bowl.

He had attended Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, Texas.

After attending Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, Hayes, son of Richard Hayes, was recruited by several college football programs.

He selected the University of Michigan over several elite football programs, including the Colorado Buffaloes, Florida State Seminoles, Arkansas Razorbacks, and USC Trojans.

During Hayes' Michigan Wolverines career, the team's best finish was as 1992 Big Ten Conference Champions, when coached by Gary Moeller.

Hayes, who wore #9 for the Michigan Wolverines from 1992 to 1995, was recruited by University of Colorado, Florida State University, University of Arkansas, and University of Southern California.

The University of Colorado was so interested in having him in the 1992 incoming class with Koy Detmer and Rashaan Salaam that they reserved their 25th scholarship for him, hoping he would change his mind after having committed to Michigan.

During that year, the team finished ranked fifth nationally in both the Associated Press college football final poll and the CNN/USA Today college football final poll, and the team beat the Washington Huskies 38–31 in the January 1, 1993 Rose Bowl in a game that is memorable for Tyrone Wheatley's MVP performance.

Hayes had a 10-yard reception during The Game.

In the September 24, 1994 Miracle at Michigan, #7-ranked Colorado, with former Michigan coaching staff member Bill McCartney as their coach, exacted their revenge on #4-ranked Michigan.

Kordell Stewart completed a 64-yard hail mary pass to Detroit native Michael Westbrook against Ty Law and Chuck Winters as time expired to complete a miracle 27–26 comeback.

In The Game, Hayes had 3 receptions for 62 yards as well as a run for 14 yards.

He also returned 3 kickoffs for 54 yards.

The ending of this game has been described as one of the two wildest finishes in University of Michigan Football history.

He is notable for his game-winning catch in the 1995 Pigskin Classic against the University of Virginia.

Hayes also once held the Michigan record for consecutive games with a reception (30).

Hayes' 179-yard performance against the Virginia Cavaliers was the 1995 single-game high by any of the Wolverines wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, which included Amani Toomer, Jay Riemersma, Chris Howard, Jerame Tuman, Tshimanga Biakabutuka, Tai Streets and Chris Floyd.

Hayes' 48 receptions and 923 yards also led all Wolverines in receiving for the 1995 season.

At the end of his Michigan career, Hayes' 923 yards ranked sixth on the single-season yardage list, but it is now fifteenth.

His 2144 career yards ranked fifth and now ranks eleventh.

The quarterbacks during his 1995 season were Brian Griese and Scott Dreisbach.

Other quarterbacks during his collegiate career were Todd Collins and Elvis Grbac.

In 1995, Hayes established the Michigan football record for most consecutive games with a reception by stringing together thirty such games.

Hayes is notable for his 7-reception 179-yard performance culminating in a game-winning, fourth down, time expired 15-yard touchdown catch on August 26, 1995 from Scott Dreisbach to seal an 18–17 win in Michigan's greatest comeback, a record that stood for eight years until 2003, when the Wolverines pulled off a 21-point comeback against Minnesota.

The reception was recorded against University of Virginia Cavaliers defensive backs Ronde Barber and Paul London in the Pigskin Classic to complete what was at the time the largest comeback in Michigan Football history in Lloyd Carr's coaching debut.

The Game constituted the other of the two wildest finishes in Michigan Football history.

Hayes is notable as one of the victims of Beaver Stadium attendees' ice and snowball hurling on November 18, 1995.

He was drafted with the 136th overall pick in the 5th round of the 1996 National Football League draft.

Although he had a modest professional career, he was involved in many of the University of Michigan's most memorable football moments.

Amani Toomer and Hayes were the fourth pair of Michigan receivers to have played together with 2000 career reception yards.

His record was broken by Marquise Walker's 32 games in 2001 and later surpassed by Braylon Edwards's 38 games and Jason Avant's 35 games.

Hayes ranks tenth in career yards per reception at 17.3 and eleventh in career all-purpose yards.

He is listed prominently among Michigan's all-time leaders in kickoff returns and yards as well as total returns (kickoff, punt, fumble and interception) and return yards.

Braylon Edwards and Tai Streets have since surpassed 179 yards, in 2004 and 1998 respectively, to move the trio down to sixth.

With 2,144 career yards and 124 receptions he ranks 10th and 12th on the All-time Michigan lists 2 yards behind Desmond Howard and 1 reception behind Derrick Alexander respectively.