Post by lazarus on May 14, 2003 13:40:48 GMT -5
Joe Hall knows he didn't take full advantage of the opportunity he had at Kansas State. Two years and one diploma later, he hopes to learn from past mistakes and make the most of a second chance with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It's hardly a stretch to say that former Kansas State running back Joe Hall, right, has been given a golden opportunity to display the potential he flashed only on occasions during his three years in Manhattan.
CHRIS LANDSBERGER/The Capital-Journal
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By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Big Joe Hall knows he screwed up in a big way.
"I was immature, I acted out a lot," he said in summarizing his speckled three-year football career at Kansas State, where he played only two seasons.
Maybe he never was destined to become an All-Big 12 running back. But at the very least, Hall was a viable contender for a prominent role in the K-State offense in the time before Josh Scobey emerged as the Wildcats' featured back.
It was in 1999, Hall's junior season in Manhattan, that the nation's heaviest Division I running back (at a conservatively estimated 290 pounds) rushed for 100 yards in three straight games -- two of them against Big 12 opponents. Hall even became something of a cult figure in Wildcat Country after his 195-yard rushing effort -- sixth-best in K-State history -- against Utah State. The prestigious Dallas Morning News even named him to its all-conference second team.
But like many flawed legends, Hall's story is filled with as many downs as up.
Minor off-field brushes with the law and a major ongoing problem with his weight proved to be his Achilles heel, and Hall consequently did not play in the 2000 season. By the time he returned in 2001 weighing well in excess of 300 pounds, he ran only 39 times -- a full one-third fewer than his 121 carries of '99 -- even though he averaged almost 6 1/2 yards a try.
Former Kansas State quarterback Marc Dunn says he plans to play professional football at some level -- NFL, Arena League, Europe -- in the near future. He got his chance to work with NFL receivers and backs at the Chiefs' mini-camp, where he was an unsigned tryout player.
CHRIS LANDSBERGER/The Capital-Journal
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When his eligibility at K-State ended, Joe Hall figured his football career was over.
"I definitely grew more humble in the last year when I sat out wondering if I'd ever play again, wondering if anyone would ever give me another chance," he explained.
Well, somebody did.
The Kansas City Chiefs, acting on Bill Snyder's recommendation that this one-time hulking problem child deserved a second (third? fourth?) chance, signed Hall and put him to work immediately in their offseason program.
This past weekend, Hall was one of three undrafted former Wildcats getting their first NFL shot with the Chiefs. Fullback Tank Reese joined Hall as a signed free agent while quarterback Marc Dunn participated in the three-day mini-camp as an unsigned tryout player.
Their prospects for winning a roster spot remain long -- longer even than the odds K-Stater Monty Beisel overcame to win a position as Kansas City's fourth-round draft pick in 2001.
Still, just getting an NFL shot is more than most college football players get. Joe Hall knows that now. He also knows the chance may not come again.
"I'm definitely grateful," he said. "Now I've got to do something with the opportunity. They've got me working harder than I've ever worked in my life, but I'm up to the challenge now.
"For once in my life, football is the No. 1 thing in my life. I've taken care of everything else I can off the field. Now it's time to concentrate on this. It's time to be a man and do things right."
Tank Reese, preparing to take a handoff during running back drills at the Chiefs' mini-camp, impressed Kansas City coaches with his athletic skills during a workout in Manhattan where the featured attractions were high draft picks Terence Newman and Terry Pierce.
CHRIS LANDSBERGER/The Capital-Journal
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The Snyder factor
As is the case with Reese and Dunn, Hall got a shot some Big 12 players might not have received because of the relationship the Chiefs have with Bill Snyder.
"When he tells you something, you take it to the house," Lynn Stiles, the Chiefs' vice president of player personnel, said of the K-State coach. "He often calls asking where a kid stands are far as being drafted or being a free agent, and what he can do to help a kid get to where he needs to be.
"His marquee players, the Terence Newman-types, are going to be seen no matter what. But a lot of other guys have gotten opportunities because Bill Snyder has recommended them.
"He's the one who told us (Hall) was coming back. Now, he didn't say he was all the way back, but at least he was working in the right direction."
Hall may have impressed Snyder most when he spent his year out of football finishing work on a degree in humanities and English.
"He promised that if I did things right and proved that I wanted to get back out there, he'd try to help me," Hall said. "That's all I could ask for."
Thus, when the Chiefs went to Manhattan to work out Newman (a first-round pick by Dallas) and Terry Pierce (a second-round choice by Denver), they also watched Hall showing surprising mobility for a man tipping the scales at 318 pounds.
The Chiefs, looking for H-back prospects -- the mobile cross between tight end and fullback -- were intrigued by the possibilities.
"He catches my eye every time I come on the field," noted coach thingy Vermeil.
That's why Hall and Reese were signed to one-year contracts. They'll get to show what they've got in twice-weekly offseason workouts, then again through two-a-day training camp sessions. They might not make the final 53-man roster, but they could emerge as candidates for the five-man development squad or draw an assignment in NFL Europe.
"We don't bring them in to fail," Stiles said. "We'll take a positive approach, do everything we can to develop them and enhance their opportunities. Maybe that means going to Europe, where we've had a lot of success in having players develop.
"But this guy can play," Stiles added of Hall. "We know he can catch the ball; he can catch a BB outside at two in the morning! Now, whether he can put it together remains to be seen, but he'll have the opportunity to fail or succeed. It's what he does with that chance to make himself better that will decide it."
Rick Dean can be reached at (785) 295-1289 or rick.dean@cjonline.com.