Adam Hall (middle) was one of the defense’s most emotional players in 2010. Photo by Chris Morrison-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Wildcats career of safety Adam Hall didn’t go as planned.
The hometown kid, a Parade All-American from Palo Verde High School, showed hard-hitting ability and loads of energy as a sophomore in 2010, but a series of knee injuries limited him to less than one full game after that.
He suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during 2011 spring practice, came back for one game at midseason — at Oregon State, making a team-high 10 tackles, despite not being able to finish the game because of more knee problems — and then tore the right ACL again in the 2012 spring game under new coach Rich Rodriguez.
Safe to say, the Hall family hasn’t always seen eye to eye with Rodriguez and athletic director Greg Byrne — specifically about how best to proceed with Hall’s surgeries and rehab. Hall’s father, James Hall, conceded there has been “poor communicative circumstances.”
By midseason last year, RichRod said Hall was no longer with the Cats.
So, what now?
Hall earned his bachelor’s degree in May and has football eligibility remaining — perhaps two seasons if he were to pursue medical hardships to the fullest extent.
“He’s doing all the things he needs to do to feel good about his ability,” James Hall told TucsonCitizen.com.
“We’re waiting to see how he wants to continue. His options are still there. He could go back to school and take graduate classes. With his age, he could be one of the older draftees in the next coming draft should he continue to persevere.
“We have a couple of guys who want to train him. One in Texas and one in California.”
Adam Hall made 54 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, with two interceptions in 2010, when he started seven games as the team’s nickel back. He came back in good time from his spring 2011 ACL injury, perhaps in an effort to help save coach Mike Stoops’ job, but Stoops was fired two days after Hall played in the loss at Oregon State.
He’ll have to decide soon, but, as a graduate student, he could transfer without penalty and play elsewhere in the 2013 season. Or he could simply train on his own in an effort to put on a good show for pro scouts next spring.
Or Hall, who will turn 24 in September, could do just leave football behind and move on with his life.
“The possibilities are still right there in front of him,” James Hall said.
Adam Hall was one of Stoops’ biggest recruiting coups. Hall had offers from Alabama, USC and Oregon, among many others, before picking the Cats.
Makes you wonder how good he could have been if not for the knee injuries, or how his career might have turned out somewhere else.
“It being sports, there are a lot of tangibles and risks that are involved,” James Hall said.
And perhaps the ending to Adam Hall’s football story has yet to be written.
It was a happy time when Adam Hall signed with Arizona in 2009. Tucson Citizen file photo