Jaren Hall Explains His Favorite Part Of Being BYU’s Starting Quarterback

PROVO, Utah – It’s easy to forget, but Jaren Hall is entering his fifth season with the BYU football program. Since Aaron Roderick joined BYU’s staff in 2018 as quarterbacks coach, Hall has been there every step of the way.

Despite being well-versed in this BYU football program, 2022 only marks the second year Hall is the starting quarterback. This off-season is his first as the clear-cut starter.

The Spanish Fork native has embraced everything that comes with being the starting quarterback at BYU. Last season, he led BYU to a record of 8-2 in the 10 games he started.

In 2022, Hall has the chance to lead an offense that has the potential to be one of the best in college football with the amount of personnel they have returning.

Q&A with BYU QB Jaren Hall

Hall took some time to catch up with Matt Baiamonte and me on KSL Sports’ Cougar Sports Saturday to recap spring ball. His favorite part about being the starting QB at BYU is expectations for the offense in 2022 and more in a two-on-one interview.

Evaluating spring ball

Question: How would you assess how you and the offense performed in spring ball?

Jaren Hall: “I think we’ve had a lot of growing. We’ve installed a lot of new wrinkles to our offense. We had a lot of new guys, obviously. So every day is kind of a new day. A lot of learning curves if you’re putting in new stuff and you’re running the same stuff you’ve been running for a couple of days. So, yeah, some days are good, some days you learn from. But I think at this point, we’ve grown a lot from day one. Again, a lot of new guys have stepped up and got a lot of reps. You wouldn’t tell they were first-year guys. They look really good. So I’m just proud of the way everyone’s kind of come along and kept up with all the new stuff we’ve been installing.”

What Jaren Hall worked on during spring ball

Q: On a personal level, what were you working on entering spring practices?

Hall: “Just taking total control of the offense. As a quarterback, it’s important to know all eleven spots, what guys are supposed to do and how to bring guys along with you. So for me, it’s just bonding with my teammates, letting them know they can trust me and you know, realize we have a lot of guys that played together last year. It’s a unique opportunity as an offense to –almost– wholly be returning from the last season. I think we’ve done a great job of just coming together, keeping the wheels turning from last season, and just getting better each and every day.”

The autonomy Hall has in Aaron Roderick’s offense

Q: The offense that Aaron Roderick runs appears to be quarterback-friendly. How much autonomy and leeway does he allow you to run the offense this season?

Hall: “When you’ve been in the offense, in my case, you know, going on five years now, there’s a lot of stuff I’m comfortable with and we’re able to add a lot of nuances to every play we have, every package, and a lot of you know, on-field adjustments. So that’s the beauty of being here for so many years and having guys that know the offense as well as you do is that you’re able to play off of each other and it’s just fun. Once you get going man, you just cruising along and just playing ball.”

#BYU QB Jaren Hall joined Cougar Sports Saturday and talked about his control of the offense in Year 2 as the starter and how the team has progressed in the spring. #BYUFootball #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/kIoimcjYxe

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) April 9, 2022

His future

Q: As you noted, this is your fifth year [at BYU]. Are you looking at this year as maybe your last (season)? Is it kind of ‘my last spring ball,’ ‘my last this,’ are you approaching (this season) that way?

Hall: “Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you play it like you’re gonna move on to the next level every game and that’s the type of preparation I put in. That’s the dream to move on to play in the NFL. But for me, right now, I’m going to focus on this first game against USF and being the best quarterback I can for BYU and helping my teammates come along w. It’ll be a good time.”

Outlook for the RB room without Tyler Allgeier

Q: The offense returns a lot of guys. One guy not returning is Tyler Allgeier, who will be playing on Sundays this year. …What do you make of the running back room as a whole, and how they’ll be able to fill the void of Tyler Allgeier?

Hall: “They’re so versatile. I mean, they do everything. You’ve got guys that are really good in the passing game. You got guys that run downhill. You got guys that run with speed. And we will be able to use them all in so many ways. There’s not an area in the running back arsenal that we don’t have a guy that can fit that. So we’ll be very deep in the running back room and every single one of those guys will have a chance to contribute, I think.”

Favorite aspect of being BYU’s starting QB

Q: What’s your favorite thing about being the starting quarterback at BYU?

Hall: “It’s my hometown, you know, BYU; I’m from here. I’ve always dreamed of playing quarterback at BYU. So every day, it’s a dream come true. Every day it’s a blessing just to have my family with me to do it. It’s just a family thing, you know? So that’s what drives me to be the best quarterback I can be here at BYU. And you know, just everything this university stands for; what I want to be part of, I think it’s part of who I am with my upbringing. So it’s just a blessing to be here.”

Difference from last year’s QB competition to now

Q: Last year, there was a quarterback competition. This year, you’re guy, you are running the offense. What are the biggest differences between last year and now?

Hall: “Yeah, just opportunities to be more vocal. As a quarterback, just take control of situations. And then, as an offense, I mean, we’re just clicking. We’re eons beyond where we were last spring in regards to the relationships that we all have, the communication, the connection on the field. And then just the energy between the offense and defense compared to last year is so much higher.

“The defense is all returning; they don’t get enough credit. Our defense is going to be so good once we get all of our guys healthy. Even now, they are giving us problems on any given day. So the energy we have out here between us, the competition, the smack-talking, it’s fun. We’ll do some good things this fall, hopefully.”

Slingin' it 🎯🎯 pic.twitter.com/tih9BNcqeu

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) March 5, 2022

Potential for the BYU football offense

Q: What’s the potential for this offense in 2022?

Hall: “It’s hard to put expectations on yourself. Just keep [expectations] open and have the best production we can have. We’re not going to set any expectations for ourselves or hinder ourselves that way for what we have to accomplish. But just to be our best selves, to go out there, and execute the best we can like we know we can with an offense we know really well. So just to be consistent, play fast, and play hard.”

Summer plans for Jaren Hall

Q: What do the next few months for you look like now that spring ball is in the rearview mirror? Summer, personal training, what’s it look like before you get back for fall?

Hall: “Get into training again and get the body feeling even better; get faster and stronger. Go train in California with John [Beck] and work on my things there and then just try to perfect my craft. Also, spend some time with my quarterback coach here, Dustin Smith, and just anybody I can get with that can kind of help me with the time I have. So, just have as many eyes on me as I can to help me see what I can fix and to be my best self and then spend time with the family, spend time with my wife and baby, play a little golf when I’ve got time. So, just be a kid in the summer and realize there’s a lot to look forward to in my future. I’m going to go grind for that first.”

 

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A post shared by Jaren Hall (@jarenhall3)

Life as a husband & father

Q: You mentioned your baby; what has it meant for you to be a father to your daughter?

Hall: “It’s a blessing. It makes everything far more worth it. Football means more to me now; school means more. Everything just means more having a baby girl you provide for and a beautiful wife at home that I look forward to seeing every day. So it just makes my time away precious and valuable and just gets the best out of me. I’m grateful for her and for my baby girl.”

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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