Max Hall Gives Update On BYU Alumni Game Achilles Injury
Apr 5, 2023, 12:24 PM
Former BYU football quarterback Max Hall suffered an Achilles injury during the second annual Alumni Game. (Nate Edwards/BYU Photo)
(Nate Edwards/BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – Former BYU quarterback Max Hall suffered an Achilles injury during last week’s Alumni Game. It was a sad end to another eventful alumni game.
Hall was part of Team Royal with former BYU great Ty Detmer. Team Royal lost the game to Team Navy, 26-20, in overtime.
Hall, the winningest QB in BYU football history, provided an update on his injury during an episode of his podcast, “The Agents of Recovery.” Hosted by Hall, Blu Robinson, and Brock Bevell.
Complete Achilles rupture for Max Hall
Hall was asked how the injury happened.
“Well, [the Alumni Game] comes down to the end of the game, and each team gets one more drive. Kalani [Sitake] said, ‘Alright, each team gets one more drive.’ So [team] Navy goes down and scores,” said Hall on The Agents of Recovery Podcast. “Now they’re going for the two-point conversion, and they throw a pass to the back of the endzone; he jumps up and catches it. But it was unclear whether he landed in or out of bounds. So everybody out there is looking up at the jumbotron, watching the replay. As soon as I see him catch the ball, and when he comes down, his foot is on the line out of bounds. I kind of start moving forward out onto the field and signaling with my hands, ‘Incomplete! Incomplete!’ As I was doing that, I felt like somebody came up and kicked me in the back of the calf as hard as they could. I even remember looking back, looking around like, ‘Who just kicked me?'”
During the first made-for-TV alumni game last year, Hall generated a last-second hail-mary touchdown pass to Bryan Kehl to lift Team Navy over Royal. Hall was getting ready for more late-game heroics again last week.
Former #BYU great Max Hall had to be helped off the field by trainers due to an injury.
Here’s to a speedy recovery for Max.#BYUFootball pic.twitter.com/Bp4uJ4LVPn
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) April 1, 2023
“I had an opportunity to go win the game on the last drive, which I love. I love those situations, and I couldn’t get up,” said Hall. “Even Ty [Detmer] thought I was joking. He’s like, ‘Bro, get up. Come on; you’re in. Let’s go!’ I tried to put weight on it, buckled, and I fell again. And that’s when it kind of hit me like, this is serious. Something’s not right.”
Road to recovery
Hall then revealed his Achilles injury was a complete rupture and that surgery and a “long recovery” were ahead.
Hall also opened up during the podcast about setting a mandate not to take opioids during his recovery from this Achilles injury. Hall has been open about his past struggles with opioids when he took painkillers to treat his injuries during his pro career in the NFL and CFL.
Throughout the years, Hall has shared his story with youth groups about the dangers of painkillers. He currently works at American Leadership Academy in Arizona as a coach.
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 coverage of BYU moving to the Big 12 Conference on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
