BYU Rookie QB Jaren Hall to Start for Minnesota Vikings on Sunday
BYU rookie quarterback Jaren Hall was the first quarterback to see action when Vikings starter Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles’ tendon against the Packers on October 29.
He played in the final 11 offensive snaps of that game, and was the starter the following week, when Minnesota took on the Atlanta Falcons. Unfortunately, Hall suffered a concussion early in that contest and has been on the bench ever since.
In that time, the Vikings have started both Nick Mullins and Joshua Dobbs at quarterback but have been largely unsuccessful offensively while under their direction.
Now, the rookie will get another chance to take the reins of an offense that has one of the top wide receiver duos in the league with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at his disposal, as the Vikings have named Hall the starter for Sunday night’s game against Green Bay.
Unfortunately, superstar tight end T.J. Hockenson is out for the season with an injury, but Hall will still have plenty of weapons to work with, perhaps none greater than the mind of his head coach, Kevin O’Connell.
Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips says that Hall has been working hard to develop, but there’s still a bit of unknown about the former Cougar, as he just hasn’t played a lot of football in the NFL.
“It takes time for that,” Phillips said, per the Star Tribune. “He’s worked really hard. All he’s done is improved. The thing with Jaren I think everyone would agree with, that fans look at the positive side most of the time, like, ‘Put the backup in there,’ right? But there is an unknown factor for a guy who just hasn’t played a lot of NFL football. We liked a lot of the things we saw in a very small sample size against Atlanta before he got hurt. There certainly are some things that we just don’t know, in those situations, how he’ll respond. But you feel like you know the person. You know his day-to-day work ethic, you know his preparation. And so you feel like you’re betting on traits when you’re putting him in the game.”
