Palo Verde’s Hall showing versatility in Hawaii
by Geoff Grammer on Dec. 11, 2008, under SportsHall expected to start in game in Hawaii at strong safety
Palo Verde High School's Adam Hall works his way past defenders during a game at Sahuarita in October. Hall is starting on defense Friday evening in the Hawaii Prep Football Classic in Honolulu, but he expects to get in on some offensive plays as well.
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Even in one of the nation’s premier high school all-star games, Palo Verde’s Adam Hall is proving to be too talented to keep on just one side of the ball.
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Hall is penciled in to start at strong safety when the Hawaii Prep Football Classic kicks off Friday night in Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium.
But don’t think the do-everything star won’t find his way onto the field for a few offensive snaps as well.
“They have me playing on both sides,” Hall said this week from Honolulu, between meetings with his Mainland All-Star teammates. “I’m going to start on defense, but I know I’ll get some plays on offense, too.”
Hall, who scored 38 touchdowns this year for Palo Verde in almost every possible way – punt return, kick return, fumble return, interception return, rushing and receiving – is still an enigma for recruiting experts.
Is he a receiver? Is he a defensive back? Is he both? At least one recruiting analyst observing Wednesday’s practices in Hawaii seems to have his mind made up.
“Adam Hall has had (a) couple of big breakups and looks pretty natural as a defensive back,” wrote Rivals.com‘s Jeremy Crabtree on a message board thread dedicated to practice updates for the all-star game.
Hall is not committed to which side of the ball he plans to play on at the next level and seems to want the opportunity to play some on both sides.
“Adam is a football player,” said his father, James Hall. “There are teams saying they want him on one side or the other, and some teams saying they are open to him doing both. It’s a decision he’s taking very seriously and right now he’s still weighing all his options.”
Hall, ranked by Rivals.com as a 4-star recruit, has made official recruiting visits to California-Berkeley and the University of Arizona.
He wants to make another to USC and then plans to make his final two official recruiting visits in the next month to two of three schools – Alabama, Oregon and Oregon State.
As for this week’s opportunity to compete against some of the nation’s most coveted collegiate recruits, Hall is thoroughly impressed.
“There are people from everywhere here and people going on to play everywhere at some of the best schools in the country,” said Hall. “This team is stacked.”
Friday’s all-star game will be televised at 11 p.m. (Tucson time, 8 p.m. Hawaii time) on the Fox College Sports Channel (Cox channel 172, Comcast channel 264).
The game Hall is participating in is the second part of a doubleheader of all-star games in Aloha Stadium. The first game is a game with high school all-stars from Hawaii. Hall’s game features a mainland team composed of 40 of the country’s top prep football players against an all-star team of players from Hawaii, American Samoa and several mainland players with Hawaii ties.
For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.
