GT RB Hassan Hall Shows Physicality in Breakout Game Against Pitt

After the upheaval of the Georgia Tech Football program during the week, the Yellow Jackets showed the resolve and fight that everyone around the program was looking for in a gritty win against Pitt last Saturday night.

It is amazing the difference a week can make and it all comes down to the basics. The Jackets did not hurt themselves as they did previously throughout the entire Geoff Collins era, and due to that pulled off an upset of a ranked team on the road for the first time since Matthew Jordan ran all over Virginia Tech in 2016 in Blacksburg.

A lot of this goes to Interim HC Brent Key’s efforts not only correcting the issues they had but also making sure the players knew they had someone that cared about their emotional state after a tough week. Key had the guys wearing the White and Gold playing fast Saturday night and with a level of physicality we simply have not seen on the Flats in quite a while. His belief in their ability to do so is strong and he even said after the game, “I knew they had it in them all along, we just had to make sure everyone was on the same page.”

Hassan Hall, the Jackets’ graduate transfer from Louisville showed this by running hard all night long. He ended with 157 yards rushing on 20 carries, with an average of 7.9 yards per carry earning him the honor of being the ACC running back of the week. These numbers are impressive on their own, and much more so when you consider the front seven that Tech went against Saturday night.

It should be said that the Jackets have not been able to get a running game of this caliber going against a front seven with that much talent in a long time. As Hall said they just, “Kept pounding, and tried to see who was gonna tap first. It was really one of those types of games that was gonna be won in the trenches, and it was won.”

Part of the reason they were able to do this was because Tech showed an unwavering commitment to punching Pitt in the mouth from the get-go and bringing the fight to them. There is not a better play from Saturday to show this than when offensive lineman Paula Vaipulu and the rest of the offense got behind Hall, literally picked him up and pushed the pile five or six yards for a first down in the red zone on a key third and eleven. Vaipulu attempted to do this multiple times Saturday night, and this kind of lionhearted effort showed an unbelievable amount of heart and the will to win that everyone around the team had been talking about for weeks.

“I think [that play] brought a lot of energy. A lot of good energy after that. It was third and eleven, and it really was the bigs, [those] boys picked me up, they did all of that,” Hall said of the play. “My feet were on the ground at first, and the rest was all of them. I just remember fighting, and I just got lifted up and drove for about ten. So, it was all of them. My feet were off the ground, dangling and all.”

It is interesting to note that throughout Hall’s entire career he has never been a part of a play like that, and he wants to see it continue.

“Nah, never, not like that. That was my first time. Shout out to them still, shout out to them. I [have] never experienced something like that. We gotta keep that going.” he said.

Competition during the week at practice is especially important to Key, and he showed that by picking Hall to start against Pitt because of a great week in practice even though he had not started all season.

“I found out that Friday in the hotel that I was gonna get the start. I don’t think it really changed anything for me, I was not too high, not too low. I was the same,” Hall said.” Everybody kind of picked it up a step, everything you do no matter what it is. Special teams, O [and] D, no matter what it is we’re getting 110 percent out of the guys because we’re competing every day. I think that definitely boosted the competition up.”

One of the things that plagued Tech early on in the season was obviously special teams (in particular the punt team), and Hall says having Jason Semore as the team’s special teams coordinator has paid huge dividends so far. He also said that they have changed the way they practice it, as well as how they run their meetings paying attention to the little details that were hurting them previously.

“Well for one he is very detailed, you’re gonna know your job. You’re gonna know your job in meetings, so when you get on the field it’s kinda like you’ve already seen it, and you kinda already know what to do. So, yeah that’s for sure, it’s great having him as a special team's coordinator,” he said. “Both have changed. The meetings and the structure of practice has changed for special teams. The little things, the details, stuff like that.”

Moving onto this week of preparation for Duke, he believes the Jackets have had a great week of practice getting ready for that challenge. He sees Duke as a solid team that does not hurt themselves and plays fundamentally sound football.

“Practice has been good; it’s been great actually if you ask me. Just really coming out here and doing our best in preparation. Putting last week where last week was at, putting our best foot forward this week. We know we’re playing a good team, [and we must] come in and do better than we did last week. That’s the mindset is to always do better. Never stay the same and go harder.” Hall said.

It cannot go without being said that Key has an opportunity to win back-to-back games in the first two games of his tenure, which would boost the Yellow Jackets confidence even more. This is something Collins was not able to do throughout the three and a half years he was the head man on the Flats, and that is expected to bring a good showing from the Tech faithful excited to hopefully see some consistency from the team week-to-week. Homecoming is a fun time for any school, and this week Tech has an opportunity to make it even better with another heart-filled, and physical showing this Saturday against Duke at 4 p.m. in Bobby Dodd Stadium.