Hall Might Start vs Chicago

Andre Hall finding a hole on Monday Night Football.Photo Courtesy (Joe Mahoney © The Rocky).

The Denver Post is reporting that Andre Hall might actually get a shot at starting at RB this Sunday vs Chicago.

After Friday’s practice Mike Shanahan said that Selvin Young did participate on a limited basis (although he did not practice Wed or Thurs). Shanahan has classified Young’s decision as ‘game-time.’ Which mean even if the master mind knew he won’t be tipping his hand until the game starts.

Shanahan has ruled Travis Henry out with a partially torn PCL and with Young questionable, Andre Hall might get his first NFL start at RB.

In another surprise move this week, Denver resigned former starting fullback Kyle Johnson to their roster which means Mike Bell could move back to tailback if he is needed to back up Hall this week.

Now, for those of you who don’t know much about Andre Hall, you’ve stumbled upon the perfect blogger to fill ya in!

Hall hails from St. Petersburg Florida. He only played a single year of High School ball, but in that year he led the country in rushing yards with 1,742 yards on 227 carries (that’s a 7.7 yard average for those of you in Oakland). After a brief stint in the Georgia Military Academy, Hall returned to his home state of Florida to attend USF in Tampa.

At USF Hall was a stand out RB his Junior year. He actually, broke USF’s single-season rushing record that year. Some NFL teams expressed interest, but instead of entering the draft he returned to USF to finish his degree. Hall truly impressed his senior year, as the one dimensional Bulls offense ran the ball over 65% of the time that year. And Even with most defenses stacking 8-9 men in the box with the goal of stopping the run, Hall still managed to score all but 8 of their 31 touchdowns that year.

By the time he graduated, Hall had captured the all-time leading rushing title for the school at 2,731 yards (averaging 5.7 yards per carry). He also had 44 receptions for 470 yrds (10.7 yards average). He knows how to have a BIG day too, as he gained over 100 yards 12 times in those 23 games (two of those went over 200 yards). He also stood out on Special Teams where he returned three kickoffs for Touchdowns.

After going undrafted in the 2006 draft, the Tampa Bay Bucs picked up the home town product. However, he was waived before the season started. Chicago picked him up in August, but dropped him in their last rounds of cuts. After watching much of the 2006 season without a team, Denver signed him in Nov last year. He spent the end of last season on Denver’s practice squad.

It was his time on our practice squad that gave him a chance to compete for a starting position during this off-season. During his time on the PS, Hall had the responsibility to impersonate the leagues best running backs as the squad set up to give Denver’s defense a look at what they would be seeing on any given week. He got to play Larry Johnson and LT among others. Denver coaches were impressed and when OTA days rolled around they wanted Hall to show off what he could do as a bronco.

He didn’t let his coaches down. He was one of the stars of week one of training camp and his performance during these OTA days had catapulted him to the top of the roster behind Travis Henry. Last in Camp, however, Hall injured his right hamstring which kept him from displaying his ability in live action this preseason. So, it was a position backing up kickoff returner Hixon that kept Hall on the team as the season started.

When Hixon was sacked for lack of production and no one else surfaced with enough consistancy to keep the job, Hall stepped in (and up) to make a HUGE improvement in our starting field position with his impressive speed and toughness.

Last week, with our whole bench full of running backs injured, Hall got his first chance to show off his skills on Monday Night Football. He was a surprise to most folks (including the announcers) who didn’t know who he was. But after gaining 89 yards on seven carries (that’s 12.7 yards average) and a touchdown, all of broncomania has begun to notice this humble runner from Tampa Bay.

This Sunday, if Hall ends up starting vs the Bears, Chicago might regret not keeping him when they had the chance!

HERE is the link to the Denver Post article and HERE is a recent Rocky Mountain News article on the Bronco’s ability to uncover 1,000 yard rushers.