Jarryd Hayne looked pretty keen in his NFL debut.
The former Australian professional rugby player, a YouTube phenom whose athleticism caught the NFL’s eye, made an immediate impression in his first preseason game, with the 49ers.
The 27-year-old took a handoff to the left early in Saturday’s game against the Texans, waited for a hole to emerge and burst through it. With heaps of empty field in front of him and only safety Rahim Moore to beat, Hayne subtly juked past him and scampered for 53 yards. On the day — a 23-10 Texans win, for the preseason-concerned — the 49ers’ current No. 2 running back finished with 63 yards on five carries.
“He can play in space,” San Francisco coach Jim Tomsula told reporters after the game. “He’s a premier athlete in the world in space.”
As impressive as the run was, Tomsula indicated the Aussie, who was signed in March for $100,000, still has work to do to make the final cut.
“He absolutely has to battle to make the roster,” Tomsula said. “I hope I am presenting a very tempered approach to what happened tonight with Jarryd. There were things that happened tonight, and we have a long way to go. But the thing that excites me is the type of person that he is.”