West Point has its fair share of talented backs to hand the ball off to, and all of them have shown they can carve up a defense on any given night.
Last Friday night was Jaylen Hall’s turn.
The junior ball-carrier for the reigning back-to-back 5A champions showcased his blistering speed and bruising frame as he ran all over Pontotoc to help West Point capture a 50-13 victory to begin Region 1-5A play and earn The Dispatch’s Player of the Week honor.
West Point head coach Brett Morgan said one of their recipes for success is pretty simple. All it calls for is “Hall and open space.” When those two ingredients are added on the gridiron, magic happens. It’s why he only needed seven carries to produce 188 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
“When he gets out in the open field he can just flat fly,” Morgan said. “People have a hard time catching him. He’s lighting in a bottle when we get his runs blocked up correctly. You can get him in the open field – and he hasn’t been caught yet. He can go.
“He’s a really good player, a really explosive runner. He’s just coming into his own getting better and better with reps. He’s gotten better each game, learning how to set his blocks up, learning where to put his eyes, learning when to be patient, learning when to go on and stretch it and just the intricacies of running the ball. Coach (Jerry) Fremin, his running back coach, has done a great job of really just pouring into (Hall) and teaching him everything.”
Already a special player for the Green Wave, Morgan said Hall has still not even reached close to his full potential as a football player.
“He’s going to grow. He’s just a junior, but he’s long, he’s rangy. He’s kind of what I call a slasher or glider. He’s a lot faster than he looks like when he’s running. He’s a special player once you can get him into the open field.”
But Morgan, Hall’s best quality is his unselfishness. He plays hard regardless of who’s carrying the load in any particular game.
“We play a lot of guys,” Morgan said. “We rotate a lot of guys, which means its week-to-week on who’s package it is, or who’s plays out of those packages that we have the biggest advantages in, so just the unselfishness of (Hall) and all of our backs is what sticks out to me right now and (is what I am) the most proud of.”
Honorable mentions
New Hope quarterback Tyrekus Brooks was 7-of-8 passing for 174 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 175 yards and a score on 17 carries during the Trojans’ 42-27 win over Lafayette. Noxubee County quarterback Jykeim Goodwin ran for 116 yards on 22 carries for a touchdown and threw for 78 yards a scoring pass during the team’s 31-26 loss to Winona.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
