Peter King loves him some Max Hall

[Mulli]

Max Hall only served four months of a two year mission? What happened?

He cut it short.

Hey-o!!

 

[TheHopToad]

What I love about Max Hall is that he doesn't take anything for granted. He's not getting wrapped up in his own story. He understands he has to work harder than ever to capitalize on the opportunity.

By all accounts, Hall is the the first one to show up in the morning and the last one to leave the facility at night. It's his work ethic that will allow him to succeed.

He's going to make some mistakes, but that's how he'll learn. I like him.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

He cut it short.

Hey-o!!

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Mulli]

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Hey, Mo!

 

[Rats]

What I love about Max Hall is that he doesn't take anything for granted. He's not getting wrapped up in his own story. He understands he has to work harder than ever to capitalize on the opportunity.

By all accounts, Hall is the the first one to show up in the morning and the last one to leave the facility at night. It's his work ethic that will allow him to succeed.

He's going to make some mistakes, but that's how he'll learn. I like him.

I agree with this and with Russ that similar to Warner he is getting an opportunity and that is the key. It is up to him to make something of it. Timing is key to alot in life. Had Warner not got an opportunity in a Mike Martz type offense he may not have been even adequete in a standard offense. He is the exception to the rule. I think that he needed the quick Pace of the AFL so he could adjust to the speed of the NFL defenses not having seen them in college, but even with that he may have not been successful without a Mike Martz type offense. Max didn't see great speed every week in college but did see some and he has practiced since the spring against a pretty fast D. Now I guess he gets his opportunity. Hope he mainly hands the ball off and trys to keep the game close.

 

[kerouac9]

He cut it short.

Hey-o!!

LOL. Right. I don't get the part of the story where Max Hall is mature because he served a two-year mission and has a family, etc., etc.

Max Hall basically quit on a two-year commitment he made so that he could spend his ineligible year at BYU out and have some ability to try out for the NFL before he was too old to play? Awesome.

The AFL probably didn't help Warner as much as the NFL Europe experience did. Getting a few more months a year of NFL coaching and reps with a lot of NFL-type players (Antonio Smith spent time in NFL Europe, if memory serves) probably helps a ton with mechanics and stuff like that.

I think that people are underestimating our revolutionary Martz's offense was when it arrived in the NFL, and how much that contributed to Warner's success. Warner was mediocre or worse when he wasn't playing in a Martz-style offense. Martz's offense made guys like Marc Bulger, J.T. O'Sullivan and Jon Kitna productive (for a time), even after tape of it was all around the NFL.

I think that Warner's success once he established himself broke down like this:

55% Martz
20% Supporting cast
10% Will to win
10% Hard work
5% Natural talent

 

[Pariah]

LOL. Right. I don't get the part of the story where Max Hall is mature because he served a two-year mission and has a family, etc., etc.

I think the point was that he's mature because he's 24, 3-4 years older than most rooks.

 

[Russ Smith]

LOL. Right. I don't get the part of the story where Max Hall is mature because he served a two-year mission and has a family, etc., etc.

Max Hall basically quit on a two-year commitment he made so that he could spend his ineligible year at BYU out and have some ability to try out for the NFL before he was too old to play? Awesome.

I like how you admit you don't know the actual story, but then you just fill in the details that allow you to criticize him as if you do know the story.

For the record I spent about 10 minutes Googling and all I found was it was 7 months not 4, and Hall politely declines to explain why other than "it didn't work out out." He was in Des Moines Iowa for his mission. He left ASU after one year because he said the atmosphere there didn't fit his being Mormon(translation party school). When he arrived at BYU he found out he had to sit out another year because his mission hadn't been long enough and he was therefore ineligible immediately at BYU, I assume that's some BYU rule and not some NCAA rule. Hall said the coaches at ASU actually asked him not to go on his mission they thought he could challenge Carpenter and keller at QB, but he decided to go on his mission and leave ASU.

So if he left his mission for the NFL as you said, he did a pretty poor job of planning it since he still had to sit out one more full year. He redshirted his freshman year at ASU in 04, didn't play until 2007 at BYU. So he went from senior year of HS in 2003 until September of 2007 without taking a snap in a real game. Yep sure sounds to me like he left his mission early because of the NFL. What better way to prepare for the NFL than to go nearly 4 years without playing in a game.

 

[kerouac9]

I like how you admit you don't know the actual story, but then you just fill in the details that allow you to criticize him as if you do know the story.

For the record I spent about 10 minutes Googling and all I found was it was 7 months not 4, and Hall politely declines to explain why other than "it didn't work out out." He was in Des Moines Iowa for his mission. He left ASU after one year because he said the atmosphere there didn't fit his being Mormon(translation party school). When he arrived at BYU he found out he had to sit out another year because his mission hadn't been long enough and he was therefore ineligible immediately at BYU, I assume that's some BYU rule and not some NCAA rule. Hall said the coaches at ASU actually asked him not to go on his mission they thought he could challenge Carpenter and keller at QB, but he decided to go on his mission and leave ASU.

So if he left his mission for the NFL as you said, he did a pretty poor job of planning it since he still had to sit out one more full year. He redshirted his freshman year at ASU in 04, didn't play until 2007 at BYU. So he went from senior year of HS in 2003 until September of 2007 without taking a snap in a real game. Yep sure sounds to me like he left his mission early because of the NFL. What better way to prepare for the NFL than to go nearly 4 years without playing in a game.

Do you know anything about Mormonism? It's a pretty big deal when a kid leaves his mission. It doesn't generally happen unless there are serious issues at home or serious issues on the mission itself.

Tons and tons and tons of Mormons go to ASU and do just fine. Tons and tons and tons of evangelical Christians go to ASU and do just fine. The campus has some 60K people on it at any given day (60K+ FTSE in 2007); if a kid can't find a community to belong to in that kind of crowd, that's a personal failing.

So he left ASU during the 04-05 season (You're taking everything Hall says as gospel, btw. Like he doesn't feel like he needs to justify his story. 6 teams wanted him as a UDFA, but he signed with the Cards for a paltry $5K signing bonus because he wanted to stay in town. ASU wanted him to stay and compete for a starting job with Carpenter and Keller, even though that entire coaching staff is now scattered about the country. From someone who's been around Arizona high school football for a while, I'll tell you that Max Hall sometimes has a casual relationship to the truth). He goes on his mission for the first 7 months of 05-06. Then he leaves (maybe in time for spring ball at BYU?), and he's starting the 07-08 season? Does the transfer take effect at the time he enrolls at another Div I school? Doesn't the clock begin on the one-year out then?

Russ, considering the man-love you have for a guy whom you compared to Ty Detmer two months ago, I'm surprised that you have no doubts about him at all as a full-time starter in the NFL. If he's so amazing, why do think that 32 teams in the NFL passed on him seven times?

 

[Russ Smith]

Do you know anything about Mormonism? It's a pretty big deal when a kid leaves his mission. It doesn't generally happen unless there are serious issues at home or serious issues on the mission itself.

Tons and tons and tons of Mormons go to ASU and do just fine. Tons and tons and tons of evangelical Christians go to ASU and do just fine. The campus has some 60K people on it at any given day (60K+ FTSE in 2007); if a kid can't find a community to belong to in that kind of crowd, that's a personal failing.

So he left ASU during the 04-05 season (You're taking everything Hall says as gospel, btw. Like he doesn't feel like he needs to justify his story. 6 teams wanted him as a UDFA, but he signed with the Cards for a paltry $5K signing bonus because he wanted to stay in town. ASU wanted him to stay and compete for a starting job with Carpenter and Keller, even though that entire coaching staff is now scattered about the country. From someone who's been around Arizona high school football for a while, I'll tell you that Max Hall sometimes has a casual relationship to the truth). He goes on his mission for the first 7 months of 05-06. Then he leaves (maybe in time for spring ball at BYU?), and he's starting the 07-08 season? Does the transfer take effect at the time he enrolls at another Div I school? Doesn't the clock begin on the one-year out then?

Russ, considering the man-love you have for a guy whom you compared to Ty Detmer two months ago, I'm surprised that you have no doubts about him at all as a full-time starter in the NFL. If he's so amazing, why do think that 32 teams in the NFL passed on him seven times?

Actually I had several good friends all through school who were Mormon, we're all still friends today although they all live in Utah now. one of them in fact left his mission early because of personal issues. he went later and did a full mission. His friends teased him about it but it wasn't a "Big deal" because they all knew he was having problems at the time and being isolated in the snow (he was in a VERY cold environment) wasn't helping his situation. He has made a pretty successful life for himself so it didn't hurt him too much.

Yes lots of Mormons go to ASU, and lots of non Mormons switch colleges, I can't tell you how many people I knew who changed colleges after their freshman year, it's VERY common. they get to the school they picked and find out it's not what they expected for one reason or another. If Hall left for football reasons, he was very silly about how he did it because he still missed 05-06 and 06-07. If he left ASU for reasons other than what he said, it cost him 2 years without football, I think we can safely assume he didn't leave so he could prepare for the NFL quicker.

Hall told the Deseret News he had 6 teams talking about signing him, that was before he signed with the Cards. I don't know if we were 7 or one of the six he didn't name them all. The way it was written it sounded like we were 7.

Regarding the draft first off not all 32 teams needed a QB, and secondly that no longer matters, if the Cards had cut Hall at the end of the preseason to try and put him on their practice squad do you HONESTLY believe nobody else would have claimed him first? It doesn't matter they passed on him in the draft, when they saw him in actual NFL preseason games he was impressive, he would not be a Cardinal today if they had tried to get him on the practice squad.

I happen to think a Ty Detmer level QB could be better than what we got from Anderson. If 28 year old Ty Detmer were here right now, he'd be starting for us. And again, I like Leinart, I would have kept him, but it's very clear the Cards decided Matt wasn't the guy for some reason or another. Given how bad the QB play is now if the players were unhappy about that don't you think by now someone would have come out and said why the hell did we cut Leinart? It's pretty clear to me none of the guys on the team had some big issue with that.

I have no idea how Hall will work out, but it's not man love that caused me to reply to your post it's bewilderment about how someone could admit they don't know why he left his mission, and then turn it into another shot at the guy. You have no idea why he left his mission, yet you said he did it for the NFL?

If Hall plays poorly maybe we'll finally hear one of the players come out and ask why did we get rid of Matt, but at the moment the silence is pretty telling IMHO.

 

[THESMEL]

kurt

Kurt explains it better than most can in the Rattlers booth this year.
He says the pass like your hair is on fire quick reads helps the mind and the internal clock. but never did much in the run game?

If Whis don't start coaching like an NFL coach/personell man, He's going to be able to call 60 passes a game in the AFL soon enough.

Can't concieve a viable reason for 12 rushes again with THT and Beanie?
Its so out side the NFL game with the worse QB in the NFL?

WHIZ CHOSE THIS!

I'm confused how people can think the arena league can prepare a QB for the NFL better than playing D1 college football can? How many QB's from the Arena league have even stuck on an NFL roster let alone be a star, Warner was very much the outlier in that regard.

Arena league is a totally different game, different size field, different rules, different everything. It helped Kurt because he got to throw the ball over and over and develop confidence, but he succeeded in the NFL because he had talent. People forget Green Bay wanted to keep Kurt, they just didn't have the numbers to do so at that time.

I agree with what Pariah said playing for Martz helped Kurt a lot, Kurt has told that story repeatedly Martz made Kurt become a disciplined QB, how to hold the ball how to release it, how many steps etc.

The very same stuff Whiz was doing with Leinart that confused him so much.

We'll see if it's the same with Hall but you get the impression the reason they like Hall so much is that he picks that stuff up quicker than just about any other QB Whiz has worked with?

Saying he'll be another Warner is complete guesswork, but I don't know that not playing in the AFL really matters. Grieb was a superstar in that league for years with the Sabercats, he couldn't get past tryouts with NFL teams, let alone get signed and survive OTA's training camp and preseason like Hall did.

 

[Spielman]

Arena football was important to Warner's development because he hadn't had much chance to play in college, just the one year as a starter. He needed the opportunity to play, not because it was somehow better for him than college ball, but because he needed a chance instead of college.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Actually I had several good friends all through school who were Mormon, we're all still friends today although they all live in Utah now. one of them in fact left his mission early because of personal issues. he went later and did a full mission. His friends teased him about it but it wasn't a "Big deal" because they all knew he was having problems at the time and being isolated in the snow (he was in a VERY cold environment) wasn't helping his situation. He has made a pretty successful life for himself so it didn't hurt him too much.

Yes lots of Mormons go to ASU, and lots of non Mormons switch colleges, I can't tell you how many people I knew who changed colleges after their freshman year, it's VERY common. they get to the school they picked and find out it's not what they expected for one reason or another. If Hall left for football reasons, he was very silly about how he did it because he still missed 05-06 and 06-07. If he left ASU for reasons other than what he said, it cost him 2 years without football, I think we can safely assume he didn't leave so he could prepare for the NFL quicker.

Hall told the Deseret News he had 6 teams talking about signing him, that was before he signed with the Cards. I don't know if we were 7 or one of the six he didn't name them all. The way it was written it sounded like we were 7.

Regarding the draft first off not all 32 teams needed a QB, and secondly that no longer matters, if the Cards had cut Hall at the end of the preseason to try and put him on their practice squad do you HONESTLY believe nobody else would have claimed him first? It doesn't matter they passed on him in the draft, when they saw him in actual NFL preseason games he was impressive, he would not be a Cardinal today if they had tried to get him on the practice squad.

I happen to think a Ty Detmer level QB could be better than what we got from Anderson. If 28 year old Ty Detmer were here right now, he'd be starting for us. And again, I like Leinart, I would have kept him, but it's very clear the Cards decided Matt wasn't the guy for some reason or another. Given how bad the QB play is now if the players were unhappy about that don't you think by now someone would have come out and said why the hell did we cut Leinart? It's pretty clear to me none of the guys on the team had some big issue with that.

I have no idea how Hall will work out, but it's not man love that caused me to reply to your post it's bewilderment about how someone could admit they don't know why he left his mission, and then turn it into another shot at the guy. You have no idea why he left his mission, yet you said he did it for the NFL?

If Hall plays poorly maybe we'll finally hear one of the players come out and ask why did we get rid of Matt, but at the moment the silence is pretty telling IMHO.

Man, Russ, I appreciate you sticking your neck out for Hall.

K9 is going to chop it off if the kid plays bad, but I agree with most of the points your making.

Something is going on with Hall. I've read King's work pretty carefully for the last five or six years, and I don't think I ever seen him give so much press to an UDFA QB. He's no preston parsons.

Also, I would like to point out (specifically to you K9), for the bazillionth time, that it's not impossible for scouts miss a QB's potential. Brady is kind of the consummate example. There's no need to mention that it's rare, I understand that. Let's just all stipulate that it happens occasionally, probably about as often as you have sex K9. totally kidding man, but I couldn't resist. Please forgive me.

Bottom line is there is a legitimate chance that Hall turns out to be something special (i.e. great, e.g. Brees). Probably 5%.

There's also probably a 5% chance he's a very good starter (say, Carson Palmer)

20% that hes an average starter (Kyle Orton)

55% that he keeps the seat warm until next year (Gradowski)

15% that he's disastrous like DA.

Finally, I would just like to echo the sentiments of those who have said that the season has just become a little more interesting. DA was a train wreck. I'm more hopeful, for the moment, with Hall.

 

[devilalum]

I like the kid but lets see him perform at a high level for at least half the season first.

Half a game would be a good start.

 

[Russ Smith]

Arena football was important to Warner's development because he hadn't had much chance to play in college, just the one year as a starter. He needed the opportunity to play, not because it was somehow better for him than college ball, but because he needed a chance instead of college.

Exactly my point, Hall started 3 full seasons at BYU, he played a lot more than Warner did before the NFL. Warner needed a chance to play, which is what Mariucci said when they cut him, we think he has an NFL future, he just needs to play more before he's ready.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

I actually think Russ isn't putting his neck out for Max at all and certainly hasn't written anything to make me think he has a man crush either. Seems hes being some what reasonable and wait and see, although intrigued by the HC, and numerous local and national writers (who know a ton more then K9) also "sticking their neck out" for a player who has a good pedigree, production wherevers hes played, and A+ intangibles.

Thats a lot more reasonable then posters who are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that he will fail, for no other reason then his draft status ignoring everything that has taken place since then.

I mean seriously K9 you don't think a wait and see approach or even god forbid cautious optimism is somewhat warranted? Wiz doesn't strike me as a guy who just falls in love with players - in fact hes harder on players then 90% of coaches in the league.

So are you smarter then Whisenhunt? Do you know more about Hall then him through your "Az HS football sources"? Have you even watched him play save the preseason and half he played last week?

Or are you just so in love with your own opinion and any modicum of moderation in analysis is completely a foreign concept to you?

I am going to go with the latter

 

[kerouac9]

Actually I had several good friends all through school who were Mormon, we're all still friends today although they all live in Utah now. one of them in fact left his mission early because of personal issues. he went later and did a full mission. His friends teased him about it but it wasn't a "Big deal" because they all knew he was having problems at the time and being isolated in the snow (he was in a VERY cold environment) wasn't helping his situation. He has made a pretty successful life for himself so it didn't hurt him too much.

Yes lots of Mormons go to ASU, and lots of non Mormons switch colleges, I can't tell you how many people I knew who changed colleges after their freshman year, it's VERY common. they get to the school they picked and find out it's not what they expected for one reason or another. If Hall left for football reasons, he was very silly about how he did it because he still missed 05-06 and 06-07. If he left ASU for reasons other than what he said, it cost him 2 years without football, I think we can safely assume he didn't leave so he could prepare for the NFL quicker.

Hall told the Deseret News he had 6 teams talking about signing him, that was before he signed with the Cards. I don't know if we were 7 or one of the six he didn't name them all. The way it was written it sounded like we were 7.

Regarding the draft first off not all 32 teams needed a QB, and secondly that no longer matters, if the Cards had cut Hall at the end of the preseason to try and put him on their practice squad do you HONESTLY believe nobody else would have claimed him first? It doesn't matter they passed on him in the draft, when they saw him in actual NFL preseason games he was impressive, he would not be a Cardinal today if they had tried to get him on the practice squad.

I happen to think a Ty Detmer level QB could be better than what we got from Anderson. If 28 year old Ty Detmer were here right now, he'd be starting for us. And again, I like Leinart, I would have kept him, but it's very clear the Cards decided Matt wasn't the guy for some reason or another. Given how bad the QB play is now if the players were unhappy about that don't you think by now someone would have come out and said why the hell did we cut Leinart? It's pretty clear to me none of the guys on the team had some big issue with that.

I have no idea how Hall will work out, but it's not man love that caused me to reply to your post it's bewilderment about how someone could admit they don't know why he left his mission, and then turn it into another shot at the guy. You have no idea why he left his mission, yet you said he did it for the NFL?

If Hall plays poorly maybe we'll finally hear one of the players come out and ask why did we get rid of Matt, but at the moment the silence is pretty telling IMHO.

Max Hall is such a good guy and leader that in the NYT fluff profile, his teammates are quoted exactly as many times as I am: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/sports/ncaafootball/24byu.html?pagewanted=1 Have you ever seen anything like that in this kind of profile?

I looked for that Deseret News piece and couldn't find anything. If you could locate it I'd love to read it; although understand that Max Hall has a casual relationship to the truth.

Hall left ASU for mission reasons; he didn't come back for football reasons.

 

[desertdawg]

If Hall is a better option than DA than what is your problem with him? Who would you rather start at QB that is on the Cards roster K9?

 

[kerouac9]

I actually think Russ isn't putting his neck out for Max at all and certainly hasn't written anything to make me think he has a man crush either. Seems hes being some what reasonable and wait and see, although intrigued by the HC, and numerous local and national writers (who know a ton more then K9) also "sticking their neck out" for a player who has a good pedigree, production wherevers hes played, and A+ intangibles.

Thats a lot more reasonable then posters who are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that he will fail, for no other reason then his draft status ignoring everything that has taken place since then.

I mean seriously K9 you don't think a wait and see approach or even god forbid cautious optimism is somewhat warranted? Wiz doesn't strike me as a guy who just falls in love with players - in fact hes harder on players then 90% of coaches in the league.

So are you smarter then Whisenhunt? Do you know more about Hall then him through your "Az HS football sources"? Have you even watched him play save the preseason and half he played last week?

Or are you just so in love with your own opinion and any modicum of moderation in analysis is completely a foreign concept to you?

I am going to go with the latter

I'm glad to see that we're allowed to attack the poster and not the posts now. It's a little difficult to type with your words shoved in my mouth, but I'll give it a try.

Russ dropped Matt Hasselback and added Max Hall to his fantasy roster. I'm not in his league, but that basically tells me that Russ's prediction is that Hall will be better than Hasselback this year.

Do you really think the only reason that I think that Max Hall is/will be bad is because of his draft status? That's probably a good enough reason to think that someone will fail, but the other reasons that I think that Max Hall will be bad--at the very least this year--is:

• He has a noodle arm
• He's too small to see over the offensive line
• He played in a Mickey Mouse conference in college
• No one wanted him even once he was an undrafted free agent (unless you ask him)

Why would "cautious optimism be warranted"? Based upon what? Whis's ability to pick promising quarterbacks like Brian St. Pierre and Derek Anderson? His ability to develop quarterbacks like #7? Because of the long track record of success for undrafted free agent rookie quarterbacks? Because the offensive line playing in front of him has been so good? Because the not-Fitz WR corps he'll be throwing to is so talented and experienced? Because Whis has shown his ability to protect inexperienced/underprepared/untalented quarterbacks with play design and playcalling? Because our commitment to running the ball will protect him from having to win the game by himself? Give me a break, AZF.

I'm sure I couldn't call plays with Whisenhunt. I'm sure that I'd learn a lot about football from a conversation with him. But I know what I see when I look at Max Hall, and what I see is Whis doing the same thing he did when he started DA: Doing his best not to lose the lockerroom when it seemed like they were losing faith in the guy under center.

I've seen a couple of BYU clips and all of Max Hall's NFL snaps, and they've told me everything I need to know: The guy does not have the tools to be a starting NFL quarterback. As I said before, I'll be here waiting for you when you figure that out.

 

[Duckjake]

national writers (who know a ton more then K9

How do you know? I'd bet you that k9 or just about anyone who posts or follows this board closely knows a ton more than most national writers when it comes to the Cardinals.

Most of those guys just regurgitate what they wrote last year or the year before or the year before or what they saw written by someone else without even bothering to actually see what is going on in Arizona.

Note you wrote national writerS not just Peter King.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

How do you know? I'd bet you that k9 or just about anyone who posts or follows this board closely knows a ton more than most national writers when it comes to the Cardinals.

Most of those guys just regurgitate what they wrote last year or the year before or the year before or what they saw written by someone else without even bothering to actually see what is going on in Arizona.

Note you wrote national writerS not just Peter King.

Well Duck being they are getting intell from actual team sources and players, I am going to say that I'll take that over K9s watching some youtube clips on Halls BYU games

 

[conraddobler]

I love the kid and how he plays but let's be real here, his arm is questionable.

Teams will attack every part of his game until they find something he can't do well and then throttle him with it.

There's a very high chance there's a hole in his game that will preclude any real success in the NFL.

I'm rooting for him very hard but be realistic, UDFA don't make it most of the time, they also don't get this far, so we'll see.

 

[Duckjake]

Well Duck being they are getting intell from actual team sources and players, I am going to say that I'll take that over K9s watching some youtube clips on Halls BYU games

See I don't buy that. I don't think most of the national writers care enough about Arizona to develop those sources.

I know we get better information here on ASFN than the majority of them. Just look how quickly we found out about Dan Williams being too fat.

Heck Urban probably found out about it by reading ASFN.

 

[Russ Smith]

Max Hall is such a good guy and leader that in the NYT fluff profile, his teammates are quoted exactly as many times as I am: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/sports/ncaafootball/24byu.html?pagewanted=1 Have you ever seen anything like that in this kind of profile?

I looked for that Deseret News piece and couldn't find anything. If you could locate it I'd love to read it; although understand that Max Hall has a casual relationship to the truth.

Hall left ASU for mission reasons; he didn't come back for football reasons.

I'll try to find it again, I read it last week online.

I don't get why you post a link if you're going to ignore the parts of the link that don't agree with your version? In the link you post it clearly says what I said, ASU wanted him to stay, which you earlier didn't seem to agree with.

You also suggest that the lack of quotes from his teammates are somehow an indictment of Hall? Yet in the exact same article you seem to ignore this stuff?

“A big reason why I came to B.Y.U. is that by coming to B.Y.U., especially if I was able to become a starting quarterback at B.Y.U., is the number of opportunities that I’d not only have to give service, but to represent my faith,” Hall said. “In a sense, continue to do missionary work without being on a mission.”

Hall’s role off the field now is nearly as prominent as his role on it. He speaks at Mormon religious gatherings, known as firesides, each week. He also donates his time to a program called Thursday’s Heroes where a number of Cougar players interact with terminally ill fans after Thursday practices.

Doesn't exactly sound like a bad kid does it? Donating his to be with terminally ill fans.

As for the ASU/BYU stuff, if you look hard enough you'll find an old Scout.com story where they say Hall came down to ASU and BYU for his college choice. BYU wanted him so badly they promised they would hold his spot until he actually enrolled at ASU. So it wasn't a total shock BYU was where he transferred to when he left ASU.

The mission had been planned all along, if you read that same article Hall says in it his plan is to take a redshirt year, and then take his mission, so suggesting he left ASU because of the mission doesn't agree with what he said BEFORE he even started at ASU. I don't see why it's too hard to believe that a kid who was raised in a Mormon household might decide a school that was voted the top party school in the country wasn't the right place for him.

Nobody says Hall is a saint or anything, Utah fans hate him and say he lied about claiming they dumped beer on his family. He's a very aggressive personality, very confident in himself, as Bickley said he's the polar opposite of the laid back Matt Leinart.

I just don't see where you are getting this notion that Hall is somehow lying about why he left ASU, the guys he would have been competing with had he come back to ASU would have been 2 years ahead of him by the time he finished his mission(assuming at the time he completed it). It's not like Hall is saying ASU was a bunch of sinners or anything of the sort, he just said it wasn't for him so he decided to go to BYU when he cut his mission short.

 

[TJ]

There is a HUGE difference between BYU and Northern Iowa though. And Kurt only started one year in college, Hall started for 3, he is the alltime wins leader at QB for BYU. He played LOTS more football than Kurt did before Kurt got his chance with the AFL.

Trust me I know this. That's why I stated that BYU was a nationally ranked team when he was there.

I'm not sure if we can truly compare Hall and Warner as their situations are apples and oranges. Warner took the long route to get on an NFL active roster, while Hall is starting in the 5th week of his young career. He has all of the intangibles you want from your starting QB, I just hope he translates that to physical ability. Heck, Whisenhunt even stated at the beginning of the season that Hall was probably pissed that he wasnt named the starter.

Given the circumstance, he cant be any worse than Anderson. Whis knew that he was throwing the dice with Anderson as his #1 given the last two seasons of complete turmoil in Cleveland. It took only 4 weeks for him to realize he couldnt make a dollar out of a nickel and that he had seen enough of him. Im happy that Whis pulled the plug on Anderson when he did. In any other circumstance, this would be waiving the white flag. But given the fact that Anderson is so terrible, this is an attempt (desperate or not) to salvage the season. I would do the same thing.