2023 NFL Draft Profile: Georgia Tech Running Back Hassan Hall
Running back is not a position that many NFL teams love to spend high draft picks on and the position has been devalued over the years. That has allowed quality backs to slip into the later rounds of the draft or go undrafted altogether (See Jordan Mason last season) and I think the same thing could happen to another Georgia Tech running back in this NFL Draft.
Hassan Hall came in as a transfer last season and was in a competition for carries with guys like Dontae Smith and Dylan McDuffie at the start of the season. As the year went on though, Hall took over as the lead back for GT and led the team in rushing with 521 yards. The Yellow Jackets also had one of the worst offensive lines in the country and that made running the ball difficult most of the time and Hall did not get a true chance to show how explosive he can be.
While he was not a starter from the day that he stepped on campus, Hall made sure to make an impact in his freshman season at Louisville. In 2018, Hall had 70 carries for 303 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry. In 2019, he set his then-career-high in yards, carries, and touchdowns with 501 yards, and five touchdowns on 108 attempts.
Despite his career year in 2019, Hall could not build upon that success. His carries went down in each season and his yards were down as well, but he did have a career game during the 2021 season against Virginia when he had 14 carries for 162 yards.
After having only 24 carries through the first four games of the season in 2022, things changed in game five against Pitt, the first game with Brent Key as the interim head coach.
Hall had his breakout game against the Panthers, carrying the ball 20 times for 157 yards, averaging nearly eight yards per carry, including a 63-yard run. For the rest of the season, Hall would have at least eight carries in each game except for the last game of the season against Georgia.
Hall was also the fifth-leading receiver for Georgia Tech, catching 28 passes for 165 yards.
While he did not receive an invite to the 2023 NFL Combine, Hall made sure to put on a good showing for his pro day. He ran a sub 4.5 forty-yard dash, had a 37-inch vertical jump, which was the best among all participants that day, a 10-foot, 10-inch broad jump and he had 18 reps on the bench press. He left an impression that day among the NFL scouts that were in attendance.
I think Hall is likely to be an undrafted free agent, but that does not mean that he can't make a training camp and potentially make an impact on an NFL roster next season. Hall has speed and showed he is capable of being a receiver out of the backfield last season, all while playing behind an offensive line that struggled last season. I think Hall can be a multi-purpose back at the next level and possibly return kicks and punts as well.
I am not saying he is going to follow the same path as Jordan Mason did last season for the 49ers, but I think it is a possibility that he makes a roster and has a strong training camp and preseason and makes an NFL roster.
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