Bryce Hall decided to return to UVA for his senior season.
Bryce Hall earned first-team All-ACC honors last season. ~ Kris Wright

The cover of Virginia football’s 2019 Fact Book is divided into a pair of orange and blue panels with each half dedicated to a player. The blue side shows quarterback Bryce Perkins, while the orange side shows corner Bryce Hall. That’s not too surprising as both are considered All-ACC prospects with NFL potential. Plus, both represented UVA at the recent ACC Kickoff event.

Both will have a lot to do with how the season goes for the Cavaliers as well. After all, they’ll be projected to play nearly every snap this season on either offense or defense and they’re both proven producers when it comes to statistics.

That seems like as good of a place to start as any. The “50 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series starts to pick up steam.

49 - What Is Bryce Hall’s Ceiling?

UVA posted its first winning record in seven years and first bowl win in 13 years last season. Hall played a major role in that success as a shutdown corner that earned All-ACC and All-America recognition. With team and individual accomplishments in hand, as well as positive NFL projections, it certainly seemed possible that Hall might bypass his final year of eligibility for a shot at the professional ranks.

He didn’t. Hall decided to return. At the ACC Kickoff event, he said that he already thinks it was a good decision.

“I think over these past couple months of me being here, I absolutely think it was the best decision for me because I've developed in areas that I might not have been able to develop had I gone to another level, just as a leader,” Hall said. “I'm being stretched every day as far as trying to hold people accountable to the standard or just progressing and understanding it's not about you, it's about other people.

“Then also being humble. You get a lot of praise, things like that, but also being humble and being the example each and every day when you show up to work, and learning how to encourage others, communicate, share the vision,” he continued. “It's taught me something that is something very valuable lessons that I don't know I would have had the chance to. There's a reason I felt like God had called me back for another year. I'm understanding and I'm learning that now, that it's been the best decision for me. I didn't really see that at first, but now going through it, I'm starting to see that. So I'm just trying to learn each and every lesson through each situation and trying to learn and grow from 'em.”

While Hall sees the benefits for himself, with him back in the fold at corner, it’s a major boost for the defense. Hall, after all, proved to be one of the best cover corners in the country last season. The times he blanketed receivers with strong coverage, set the edge on running plays, or rolled into the right spot in coverage to force a quarterback to the next progression are examples of how he’s just a really good football player. Then, of course, there’s the effort he performs with on plays like this:

On that play, UVA’s training system clocked Hall at 22.3 mph! That tackle saved a touchdown and was one of many plats he made on the year. Hall led the nation with 22 pass breakups and was tied for No. 1 in the nation with 24 passes defended (that led the ACC). Overall, he posted 62 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery as a junior. That led to first-team All-ACC honors and an All-American spot from the Walter Camp Football Foundation (2nd team), the Football Writers Association of American (2nd), and College Football News (HM).

OK, that’s what he did. What can he do?

Let’s start with the honors category again. In the history of Virginia football, only a handful of defensive backs have earned All-ACC first- or second-team honors in back-to-back seasons (note: Keith Lyle earned 2nd-team honors in 1991 and 1st-team honors in 1993):

  • Lester Lyles 1983-1984 (1st-1st)
  • Tony Covington 1989-1990 (2nd-2nd)
  • Ronde Barber 1994-1996 (1st-1st-1st)
  • Anthony Poindexter 1996-1998 (1st-1st-1st)
  • Marcus Hamilton 2005-2006 (2nd-2nd)
  • Ras-I Dowling 2008-2009 (2nd-2nd)
  • Chase Minnifield 2010-2011 (1st-1st)
  • Quin Blanding 2014-2017 (2nd-1st-1st-1st)

As you can see, that’s a relatively short list. It gets even shorter - 5 guys - if you look at 1st-team picks only. It’s obviously a who’s who list too. Hall could join them. The only other ACC award up for grabs would be Defensive Player of the Year, but that generally doesn’t go to someone in the secondary; defensive linemen and linebackers piling up sacks and tackles are the usual honorees since the league went to divisions in 2005.

Among the five Cavaliers that earned 1st-team All-ACC more than once, only three claimed repeat All-America honors - Barber in 1995-1996, Poindexter in 1996-1998, and Blanding in 2015-2017. As for first-team All-American honors as a defensive back? Percy Elsworth and Anthony Harris join Blanding and Poindexter on that list. Hall has a shot.

For someone as accomplished as Hall, he won’t be threatening the record book for interceptions like former teammates Quin Blanding and Olamide Zaccheaus did with tackles and receptions. At least not barring an insane year in that category. Hall would need to double his current career total of 5 interceptions to even get into the top 20 in UVA’s record book. If he tied Keith McMeans’ single-season mark of 9 interceptions, even that would just get him into a tie for fifth all-time. McMeans is the career record holder with 17.

Interceptions aren’t the only or most accurate barometer for DB effectiveness, of course, but they are momentum swingers and disruptive. That’s an area Hall could improve in his final season. Take last year’s 24 passes defended, which tied for second nationally, as an example. Only two of those were picks by Hall. Nine of the other 10 players in the top nationally in the same category had more interceptions and six of them at least doubled Hall’s total. Syracuse’s Andre Cisco, a safety, had 7 interceptions to lead among those 10 players and nationally.

There were several occasions last season where Hall dropped what could have - and I’d bet Hall would say should have - been interceptions. UVA as a team wasn’t hurting in that category even with those drops; the Hoos took away 17 INTs to tie for 11th in the country. Still, with turnovers and turnover margin being key metrics in wins and losses, missed chances on picks can be potentially haunting.

With that said, there’s the possibility that Hall’s numbers go down this season with interceptions and otherwise simply because he’s a better player overall and there’s less proven talent around him in the secondary. After all, two of his teammates in the defensive backfield were selected in the NFL Draft this spring when the Chiefs took Juan Thornhill and the 49ers took Tim Harris. With those players out of the mix, will opponents choose to avoid Hall altogether and attack elsewhere? It’s certainly possible.

If he can be an impact player that still produces even if opponents target his side of the field less often, that would make him an efficient shutdown monster. With a defense that’s loaded with experienced players despite the NFL losses, that alone could be a key contribution to what could be one of the top defense’s in the nation.

Of course, that experience and potentially disruptive defense could play into Hall’s wheelhouse. If Bronco Mendenhall and his defensive coaches draw up certain looks, it could force teams to go Hall’s way on hot reads against blitzes or in an attempt to go after one-on-one coverage. If he raises his game even more from a year ago, this could be a huge year ahead.

Ultimately, that could be the biggest test for Hall’s ceiling as a senior.