Jaren Hall is ‘rising fast’ as an NFL draft prospect, says ESPN expert

BYU quarterback Jaren Hall is trending among NFL scouts, according to one of the most well-known media draft experts.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Todd McShay said that the junior is one of three quarterbacks who is “rising fast” as an NFL draft prospect, along with Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker and Fresno State’s Jake Haener. 

It’s a sentiment another ESPN draft expert, Jordan Reid, shares. Reid said Hall’s early season performance “has the attention of NFL scouts.”

Hall has thrown for 1,164 passing yards and nine touchdowns so far this season, with a 71.5% completion percentage that ranks 15th nationally.

He’s thrown just one interception in 2022, and he’s currently on a streak of 115 consecutive passes without a pick.

Last week, Hall completed a career-best 81.3% off his passes for 337 yards and a career-high tying four touchdowns in a win over Wyoming.

Hall’s ability to throw into tight windows and place the ball in optimal spots for receivers, in particular, has been highlighted in recent weeks.

Among those who’ve drawn attention to that is Shrine Bowl director of football operations Eric Galko, who praised Hall and his wide receivers who “just have a really good feel for back shoulders and in red zone.” 

Hall has shown this accuracy even while working mainly with the Cougars’ young receivers. BYU has been missing its top two receivers, Gunner Romney and Puka Nacua, for much of the year. Romney is expected to make his season debut Thursday against Utah State.

Hall’s NFL hype began, in part, before the season. 

In late June, ESPN’s Matt Miller predicted Hall would experience a Zach Wilson-type rise in his draft profile. Miller had Hall going No. 9 to Seattle in a mid-summer mock draft.

“He has big-play ability stacked on a 6-foot-1 frame and can produce with a whip-strong right arm or shifty mobility,” Miller wrote at the time. 

Then, in early August, CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso made a similar prediction that Hall would become a high draft pick like Wilson, the former BYU quarterback who used a breakout 2020 season to elevate himself to the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2021.

“OK, so you’re not supposed to scout the helmet, but in Hall’s case, go ahead, draw your Wilson comparisons,” Trapasso wrote. “He’s a smaller, creative BYU quarterback with springy athletic traits and a snappy release. The play style is uncanny between Hall and the passer he followed in the Cougars program who went No. 2 overall in the 2021 draft.” 

In May, not long after the 2022 NFL draft had concluded, McShay and fellow ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. rattled off 14 quarterback names to watch in the upcoming season, and Hall and Utah’s Cam Rising were among them.

“I’m at like 13, 14 deep at quarterback right now, with guys that are certainly worth watching closely,” Kiper said during an episode of “The Adam Schefter Podcast.” “… Some may go back (to school), but if those guys come out, next year’s going to be the year of the quarterback.”