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BYU QB Jaren Hall Named To Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 List

Sep 13, 2021, 2:09 PM

Jaren Hall - BYU Football...

PROVO, UT - SEPTEMBER 11 : Jaren Hall #3 of the BYU Cougars sets to throw during warmups before their game against the Utah Utes September 11, 2021 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Logan, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

PROVO, Utah – After a memorable rivalry win, BYU football quarterback Jaren Hall is garnering national recognition. The redshirt sophomore was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 list for week two.

Hall was 18-of-30 for 149 passing yards and tossed three touchdowns in BYU’s first win over Utah since 2009. He also had success on the ground rushing for 92 yards on eight carries. Some of his rushes had national writers buzzing about him as a possible Heisman Trophy contender.

The Davey O’Brien Award is an annual award given to college football’s top quarterback. By being named to the Great 8 list, Hall is officially added to the Midseason Watch List and is now eligible for the O’Brien Award at the end of the year.

This is Hall’s first time being recognized on the O’Brien Great 8.

The O’Brien Award picks eight quarterbacks each week because O’Brien used to wear the No. 8 during his star-studded career at TCU.

Along with Hall, Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong, Georgia backup Stetson Bennett, Oregon’s Anthony Brown, Seth Henigan from Memphis, North Carolina’s Sam Howell, Tanner McKee from Stanford, and Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett round out the week two Great 8 from the Davey O’Brien Foundation.

BYU will face Virginia’s Armstrong later this season on October 30. McKee was once a four-star recruit who had BYU as a finalist in his recruitment.

Jaren Hall is thriving as BYU’s QB1

Hall had the tall task of being the successor to Zach Wilson at QB for BYU. But so far, he has passed with flying colors guiding BYU to another 2-0 start and catapulting them into the national rankings.

Jaren Hall now has a 3-1 record as a starting quarterback at BYU. He started two games in 2019 in relief of an injured Wilson, but he couldn’t complete either start due to concussion protocol.

On the year, Hall has passed for 347 yards and has completed 62 percent of his passes with an impressive 5-0 touchdown-interception ratio.

Hall and BYU will host No. 19 Arizona State from the Pac-12 Conference this Saturday night in Provo at 8:15 p.m. on ESPN and KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM).

Each Monday, Hall breaks down his performances as the Cougars starting QB on KSL NewsRadio at 7 p.m. in the Player’s Club.

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 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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BYU QB Jaren Hall Named To Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 List