The Texas A&M Aggies added a big defensive end prospect on Wednesday when Lancaster (Texas) defensive end Daeshon Hall decided not to honor his longtime commitment to Washington and head to College Station instead.
Daeshon Hall signs with Texas A&M over Washington, TCU
The former basketball prospect has opted to remain close to family.
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Sumlin and his staff are also in the mix for Houston (Texas) Alief Taylor defensive end Torrodney Prevot, who has said that he won’t sign with USC.
A consensus four-star prospect and former basketball prospect, Hall is ranked as the No. 4 weakside end prospect in the country and the No. 23 prospect in the state of Texas by the 247Sports composite. The 6’6, 220-pounder is also considered the No. 173 prospect nationally. He held offers from Baylor, Missouri, Notre Dame, Texas, West Virginia, and USC, among others.
Here’s the scoop on Hall’s talents from when he committed to Texas:
At 6’6 and now listed at 220 pounds, it’s easy to see some of the skills translate to the football field that made him one of the best basketball prospects in his class in the state of Washington. For his size, he’s bouncy and fast, skills that could help make him a pretty dangerous threat at wide receiver next season for Lancaster.
As a defensive end, it’s nice to see Hall put some different things on film. There’s some evidence that he can use his hands to control offensive linemen when he’s slow-playing a rush to keep contain, then hit and separate when he has an opportunity to make a play.
Like most high school defensive ends, leaving him unblocked in the zone game on the backside is a recipe for him to run things down and trying to bootleg into him while leaving him unaccounted for isn’t usually going to be a particularly effective strategy either.
The general sense is that he’s relatively raw, but he’s probably not that much more raw than Prevot, and projects as a weakside guy, so he probably won’t be asked to contribute early, if at all, so he’ll have time to develop. Given the upside that he has due to his size/athleticism combination (isn’t that a trend in this class), it’s easy to feel extremely positive about the pledge.
Twitter: @daeshonhall
Recruitment timeline: Hall originally committed to Texas after a Junior Day in late February 2012, but decommitted in June in order to switch his pledge to Washington and stay closer to home. Despite that proclamation, Hall visited Texas A&M and Baylor in January and flipped to A&M on Signing Day.
Highlight video:
Daeshon Hall.flv (via Bevo Fever)
Look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.
