BYU Football is now only 26 days from starting!
For the past 74 days I have been writing stories for the Lawless Republic counting down the Top 100 players to ever play for the Cougars. Since switching over to my own website Blue Brigham I will continue that countdown with today's player No. 26, the last player to take down the Utah Utes.
Player 26 - Max Hall - Quarterback - 2006-2009
If you had told me a decade ago that the Max Hall curse would be a real thing I would laugh and think there is no way. Fast forward ten years and I, a very realistic person who doesn't believe in curses normally, am suddenly wondering if it's true.
While Hall may most commonly be referred to the curse, at least until it is broken, what is often forgot is what happened right before the rant he shared about Utah and their fanbase.
Maybe to break the curse another Hall has to make a big play (Jaren!!) or perhaps he has to make a public statement denouncing his comments and apologize for his remarks. Or perhaps, it is in fact that Utah has just found a way to beat BYU eight straight times... yeah right.
Rankings
Impact A-
Max Hall was a really good quarterback that was not appreciated enough during his time. While he had a great running backs in Harvey Unga and J.J Di Luigi his play making ability is what probably gave Unga and Di Luigi such big running lanes. That is what happens when a quarterback averages 291 passing yards per game. Max Hall was also emotional which hyped up both the offense and defense during games. There is footage of Hall actually getting into the defenses face before going onto the field which made a huge impact in close games like Oklahoma or Utah.
Statistics A+
Second all time in passing yards, first in touchdown passes in a single game, seventh in passing yards in a single season, third and fifth in touchdowns in a single season and the list goes on and on. For totals, Hall had 11,365 passing yards, 94 touchdowns, only 40 interceptions, 8.2 yards per attempt, a passing rating of 151 and seven rushing touchdowns. In other words he did it all and was extremely efficient.
Memorable Moments C
This is the area that is going to hurt Hall. There are so many positives and negatives with him that landing at a C was what I considered to be fair. We will start with the negatives and end on a high note. While the Max Hall curse is not a real thing (probably), the comments that he said about Utah and their fanbase were unprofessional and inappropriate. A few years later he got arrested in Arizona, and normally I wouldn't mention this since it was after his career, except for the fact he was wearing a BYU shirt when it happened.
That aside, Hall had great moments including defeating Utah in OT with a game winning touchdown pass to Andrew George. He also won the game against Oklahoma to start off the 2008 season. Hall also threw for seven touchdowns in the 59-0 thumping of UCLA. Against Tulsa, although it resulted in a loss, Hall threw for 537 yards. Overall, Hall will be remembered for the great things he did on the field and the mistakes he made off. The good news is, Hall is doing great things today for athletes and the community.