So far through two fall camp observation periods, one thing has become clear: Jaren Hall is ready for a fight. Locked in a battle for BYU’s starting quarterback job, the redshirt sophomore has made some big and impressive plays so far early in camp.
“I don’t think I’d be here if I couldn’t do that [make explosive plays],” Hall said.
What’s even more evident is that the Spanish Fork product clearly didn’t take time off after spring football. In fact, he pulled a page out of predecessor Zach Wilson’s playbook.
Throughout the summer, Hall made trips to southern California to spend time with John Beck at 3DQB. A year ago, Wilson was in the middle of his own quarterback battle — which included Hall and Baylor Romney — and his work with Beck ultimately helped the Draper native win the role.
If it helped Wilson, it could help Hall as well.
On a recent episode of BYU Sports Nation, Beck was asked what the former BYU quarterback saw Hall improve on most. Beck said “repeatability.”
“Jaren’s a very athletic guy who’s capable of doing a lot of things, but you’ve got to be able to be very repeatable and that’s something that we worked on,” Beck said. “I don’t like comparing Zach to Jaren, or whoever the next quarterback is going to be, but I do like to use some of the things I saw Zach improve on. And repeatability is absolutely one of those things.”
Hall knows Beck puts an emphasis on mechanics and hoped he could start seeing improvements as soon as the first practice of fall camp. Afterward, Hall said he’d look at practice film to see if what he had learned over the summer was incorporated.
As far as what Hall believes he improved on the most, the quarterback said mechanics.
“I spent a lot of time in the summer with John training,” Hall said. “I think just making everything a lot more fluid and smoother throwing motion has kind of been my focus. I haven’t had that time in the offseason, typically, in my past. So, just to make it come easier and take less off my body.”
Having to put less strain on his body is something that would benefit Hall, as he suffered a couple of big hits in the 2019 season that caused him to be removed from games.
In both games that he started two years ago, Hall left with a concussion. He suffered two within a month.
Then, he sat out the historic 2020 season with a hip injury.
On the pros-and-cons list of the three quarterbacks up for the starting gig — Hall, Romney and Jacob Conover — Hall’s injury history certainly goes against him. But the quarterback believes his body is ready for the challenge ahead.
“That’s football, though, you know,” Hall said. “You play the game to get hit and that’s just part of the deal.”
Along with seeking outside help to improve his game, Hall said leaving baseball behind to fully focus on football has also helped him because he hasn’t had to divide his time.
“I’m confident that it’ll play into my ability to play faster and play smarter and just be more dialed in when game time comes,” Hall said.
Hall, who became a father for the first time this summer, believes he is fully set up to try to win the starting position and become the next face of BYU Football.
“It’s a great way to set up your life, and to do it playing the game you love,” Hall said. “And second is to win. I love to win, I love to compete — so I play the game.”
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