Jaren Hall Remains Focused On Playing In BYU’s Bowl Game

SALT LAKE CITY – BYU quarterback Jaren Hall suffered a right ankle injury in the win over Stanford on November 26. The injury was deemed “precautionary,” and there was no break in the ankle.

That’s good news for Hall, who has to decide soon whether to move on from BYU or go to the NFL after this season. With a potential pro future on the horizon, the ankle setback raised questions if Hall remains committed to playing in BYU’s yet-to-be-announced bowl game.

“Oh, yeah, I’m playing for sure. That’s the focus right now,” said Hall to Unrivaled on the KSL Sports Zone on November 30.

Last year during the bowl season, Hall was dealing with a foot injury that sidelined him for the Independence Bowl. Will he be healthy enough to play in this year’s bowl game, wherever that may be?

“Good to go. Yup, just a little precaution. Wanted to make sure we would be okay. So we’ll be A-OK,” Hall said.

Jaren Hall lays out the bowl schedule for BYU

BYU will officially find out its bowl destination on Sunday. Until that announcement, Hall and other upperclassmen are using this week like a regular season bye to rest up for the upcoming bowl prep.

“When we know where we’re going for the bowl game, we start having an opponent to prepare for. We start watching their film in our meetings and practice becomes a little longer. A little more back to a regular schedule,” said Hall. “Then I think it’s like 10 or 15 practices we get. But then we really start to dig in and get back to practice with everybody.”

As a team, BYU has navigated what many deem an underperforming season. The Cougars are 7-5 after opening the year as a preseason Top 25 team. However, individually for Hall, it has been the best year of his five seasons at BYU.

For starters, Hall has played in every game. But he hasn’t been healthy in every game. Watch the Notre Dame game from October, and you’ll see the shoulder injury he suffered against Utah State was bothering him. But his availability has been significant. In some of the losses BYU experienced this season, it could have been far worse without Hall running the offense.

Big year for Hall

 

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He’s passed for a career-best 3,171 yards, 31 touchdowns, and has completed 66% of his pass attempts. The most impressive stat for Hall in 12 games this year might be his interceptions. Hall has only thrown six interceptions on 376 pass attempts. BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said earlier this year Hall’s ball security is an elite skill that has the attention of NFL scouts.

“I feel like playing more games this season compared to last season, and my numbers I did a little bit better. But there are still many ways I could have been much better this year,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of plays where it was close to turning the ball over. Then obviously, there were certain situations out of those six [interceptions]. Sometimes you throw an interception and it is what it is. You gotta accept it. But, you know, when it’s a bad decision, and you turn the ball over, that’s something you can always fix.

“Whenever the defense makes a good play, tip your hats to them. But when you make a mental mistake, that’s always something you can get better at it. So I just look forward to just improving on that this next season. In this off-season, studying football a little bit more and learning offense a little bit more. Just day-by-day getting better as well.”

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s BYU football coverage on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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