Cowboys’ Hall getting a kick out of plays
LARAMIE» Tyler Hall is trying to avoid getting a reputation, but there are worse ones to have.
“I gave up the touchdown, but I don’t want to be that guy, just be like, ‘Oh, that’s the redemption player. Every time he messes up, he’s going to score,’ ” the Wyoming sophomore cornerback said.
With about three minutes remaining in a quarter that produced 41 points Saturday, Hall was beaten by Texas State wide receiver Elijah King for a 5-yard touchdown catch. Hall returned the subsequent kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
The week before, Hall extended a Hawaii drive with a roughing-the-kicker call and, following a 5-yard touchdown on the next play, returned the kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.
Hall is the first player in Wyoming history to return two kickoffs for a touchdown in his career.
Like the previous touchdown, the call on Saturday’s touchdown was a middle return, Hall said.
“They kicked it away from me the first time,” Hall said, “so coach (Mike) Grant came up with that me and Nico (Evans) would be stacked on top of each other, so no matter where the ball came, I’d be able to get it. I went up the middle, found the hole and found the end zone.
“(I was) just looking at what formation they’re lined up in, just trying to picture it before it happens. And during that play, I felt like the middle was closed, so I had to bounce it out just a little bit more. I had a great block by Milo (Hall), and I just ran up the seam.”
That’s when Tyler Hall knew he had the touchdown.
“I knew it was just up to me to use my speed to get on to the end zone,” he said.
But Hall didn’t yet know he had made history. “When I walked up here, that’s the first time I heard it,” Hall said at his postgame news conference.
Hall has returned just six kicks this season, meaning his average is a stout 44 yards per return, best in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
As a team, the Cowboys are now second in the nation in kickoff return average, trailing only San Diego State with 35.11 yards per return. Before the Hawaii game, they were tied for 114th in the country, averaging just 15 yards per return.
Just seven teams in the country have taken two kickoffs back for touchdowns this season, and only six players have two kickoff return touchdowns. Only South Carolina’s Deebo Samuel has scored two kickoff return touchdowns on fewer total returns than Hall (2).
“He just finds the holes,” senior cornerback Rico Gafford, who also returns kickoffs, said of Hall. “He’ll hit it, he’ll find it, and then he’ll bounce it if he has to. He has the speed to do anything back there at the kick return spot. So I’m happy for him. I’m happy that he’s getting the credit that he needs for the things that he does. I love the kid.”
Hall might have to start getting used to teams kicking the ball away from him more and more.
“It’s a different feeling,” Hall said. “I never had that feeling before. It’s a funny feeling, but coach Grant is going to come up with something where it doesn’t matter where they kick it, as long as I can get the ball and make a play.”