Jalen Hall has been a five-star receiver since before most class of 2018 recruits had even gotten on the radar beyond their high schools. A year-and-a-half ago, Hall was considered the No. 1 receiver in the country — good enough to garner an invite to The Opening Finals as a rising junior. The event is mostly for rising seniors.
5-star Jalen Hall could be the next superstar WR to commit to USC
The Los Angeles star is expected to stay home.
Hall is no longer the consensus No. 1 because recruiting rankings swing wildly over the years. But he remains a consensus five-star, and one could still make the case that he’s the best receiver prospect. At about 6’4 and just short of 200 pounds, Hall has the ideal size to be a dominant deep-ball and red-zone threat. He’s strong, and his hands are among the best.
“I wanna have everything in my game. More of a quick twitch, and even faster, and be able to attack the ball at its highest point,” Hall told SB Nation at The Opening Finals in Oregon, where he worked one day with instructor Jerry Rice. “I want everything.”
USC is the overwhelming favorite to land Hall
He’s a Los Angeles native who will play at nearby Long Beach Poly. His quarterback at Long Beach will be fellow five-star Matt Corral, who joined him at The Opening this year and recently committed to Florida. The Gators are among the dozens to have offered Hall, but he’ll probably wind up at USC, UCLA, or Stanford. He mentioned Nebraska as a team in the picture back in the spring.
If Hall does commit to USC, he’ll continue a run of receiver recruiting for Clay Helton’s staff. The Trojans landed five-star Joseph Lewis in 2017, and they’ve collected a bushel of four-stars over the last few cycles.
JuJu Smith-Schuster emerged as one of the country’s top targets over the last few seasons, before he moved on to the NFL. Nelson Agholor did the same, as did Marqise Lee and Robert Woods before them.
Sam Darnold will probably be in the NFL by the time Hall’s career begins. But if the Trojans keep racking up star receivers, replacing Darnold gets a lot easier. The Trojans are already ahead of the curve in QB recruiting for the future, too.
Hall models his game after the players you’d expect:
Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, A.J. Green, and, for a dash of speed, DeSean Jackson.
“Take my game to another level,” he said. “Not just high school. Getting ready for college and getting ready for the league, because that is something that I do wanna do.”
