Jaren Hall Earns Bold NFL Draft Prediction From College Football Voice
Aug 26, 2022, 1:56 PM | Updated: 1:56 pm
BYU football quarterback Jaren Hall received high praise from ESPN's Pete Thamel. (Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
(Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)
PROVO, Utah – BYU quarterback Jaren Hall had a lot of success in his first year as BYU’s starting signal-caller. Hall passed for 2,583 yards in 10 starts and led BYU to an 8-2 record in those games.
Those solid numbers led BYU to a final ranking in the Top 25 poll last year. But despite the winning, all of the returning production on BYU’s roster surrounding Hall, very few nationally in college football circles are talking about Jaren Hall as one of the nation’s best quarterbacks.
BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick was even surprised by the lack of chatter nationally for his QB1.
“It surprises me how sort of unnoticed [his season] went and how great he played,” Roderick said to KSL Sports. “I mean, he didn’t just play well; he was great. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the country last year and I would not trade him for anybody in college football, I mean that.”
Roderick now has one national guy putting some respect on Hall’s name. That’s ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel predicts Jaren Hall as a Top-15 NFL draft pick
During the debut episode of ESPN’s College GameDay podcast, Thamel and co-host Rece Davis combed through Davis’ preseason AP Top 25 ballot. Thamel took offense to Davis not ranking BYU in his personal Top 25.
The ESPN college football insider called BYU a “criminally underrated team.” BYU enters the season No. 25 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll. Then he went on to make a bold prediction in regards to Jaren Hall.
𝗠𝗜𝗖'𝗗 𝗨𝗣 🎙: @jarenhall3 pic.twitter.com/9zAHiSFEgR
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 25, 2022
“I’m going to make a bold declaration here — Jaren Hall will be a Top-15 NFL draft pick come April or May,” Thamel said.
Davis then asked, “You think he’s better than Zach Wilson?”
“I will reserve that. I will say this, Zach Wilson, everybody forgets did it against that COVID schedule where it was a bunch of defensive backs that looked like me and Rece out there on the perimeter.
“But if you look back at that BYU COVID schedule, Coastal was their best opponent. They didn’t play anyone because everyone went all-conference and it really squeezed Independents. So, like their second hardest game was UTSA. It was a lot of Troys and some I-AA. It just was not a good schedule. Zach Wilson had the most perfectly timed exit. Could he (Jaren Hall) be better? Yes. Is he now? No.”
Thamel isn’t the only person that has given Jaren Hall high praise as a high draft pick. Mel Kiper rated Jaren Hall as the sixth-best QB in the 2022 NFL draft class.
Hall and his BYU team will begin the 2022 season on Saturday, September 3, on the road against the USF Bulls in Tampa, Florida. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. on ESPNU and KSL NewsRadio.
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 him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
