Jaren Hall Looking Ahead to NFL Career After Success at BYU
As the rain poured down in Tampa, Florida for the BYU Cougars’ first game of the 2022 season, quarterback Jaren Hall’s focus was on keeping himself and his team locked in despite a delay that went on for hours.
But another thought that crossed his mind was the fact that this could be his final season-opener as a college football player for the program he holds so close to him.
“Just that first game stands out as such a turning point,” Hall said.
“We had a rain delay for a couple hours, waiting for the rain to pass in Tampa before we played USF. We were all just in the locker room, just trying to find a way to stay hyped up and just trying to realize the situation we were in. Playing potentially the last season with the guys that I love for four years.”
Hall was pleased to end Game 1 with a W after the immediate adversity that ensued as BYU collected a plenty satisfactory 50-21 victory over the Bulls in which Hall completed 25-of-32 passes for 261 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
He ultimately ended out the season with a 66% completion rate, passing for 3,171 yards with 31 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also found some success on the ground as a player who can evade pressure well and make plays with his legs when called upon to do so, collecting 346 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground on 86 carries.
As Hall thought could be a possibility in that first game of the season against USF, it was indeed his last at BYU as he declared for the draft in January. Moving ahead, he’s confident in what he brings to the table as a signal-caller both from a tangibles and intangibles perspective, highly regarded for his arm strength and his ability to make plays both off-platform and when the pocket collapses.
“I think for me, the biggest thing is my ability to control an offense,” Hall said. “To be a leader and to make sure everybody is in the right spot. I think today, with how fast the game is being played, you’ve got to make sure that everything is set right before the snap. And so, just being able to handle that and have a grasp on everything going on is important.”
He also feels the offense that he played in at BYU which he describes as advantageous to the passer fully has him ready for the pros.
“I played in a very quarterback-friendly offense at BYU,” Hall said.
“The responsibility was kind of dispersed amongst the team. So, it wasn’t like I had to be bogged down thinking about a thousand things or a thousand checks before the ball was snapped. We play very fast, up-tempo, and our centers, our tackles, we’ve got everything squared away. I was blessed to have some very bright teammates at the line of scrimmage. Our offensive line was super with it and they knew what they were doing.”
While Hall was able to catch some eyes with what he accomplished at BYU, one of the bigger tests came when he partook in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, playing with a host of different players from several conferences across the nation in the showcase.
Hall says there was a bit of a transition, but feels he caught on and got better as the week continued.
“It really is crazy. Trying to find good chemistry with certain guys, you know, one-on-ones and so on and so forth, routes on air. It’s different,” Hall said. “All these guys are used to going out to camp, you train all summer with the same guys you’re throwing routes with, and then you get to camp and it’s kind of like you roll right into it. This is a little different, so you’ve just got to be confident in each other and just trust that everybody is going to do what they’re supposed to do and you’ve got to trust in yourself too.”
The transition between Day 1 and Day 2 in such an environment is obviously the largest and Hall says that during that stretch, simply getting settled in from a mental perspective was the primary hurdle to overcome.
“Just looking to do everything smooth. Have good tempo, have good energy. Day 1, there was a lot of things kind of moving faster and learning the playbook, but in Day 2, the objective is to focus on playing with confidence,” Hall said.
“Overcoming any mental issues or any questions about the playbook and stuff like that, overcoming that mentally. Not everything is going to be perfect, but they keep things pretty simple for us. Just go out there and keep football as simple of a game as it is and just let it unfold.”
Before, throughout and after the season some have made comparisons between Hall and New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson. There’s some compare and contrast here in regard to some aspects of both as players, something that Hall sees himself
“Yeah, absolutely (I can see it),” Hall said.
Part of that simply comes from the fact that Hall and Wilson played in similar situations within the same program.
“I think me and Zach (Wilson) are both very athletic guys,” Hall said. “We came up in the same system at BYU, right, so a lot of things might look the same in our game. I think we have a lot of similarities, but at the same time, we’re both very different. Different football players, different individuals, both good people. Zach (Wilson) is a guy I think very highly of and I’m sure I’ll have time to pick his brain at some point.”
Currently expected to be a mid-round prospect, it will be interesting to see where Hall lands in the 2023 NFL Draft and if he faces his former teammate at the highest stage football has to offer.
