Oct. 21, 2006
By Courtney Walerius
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Four seasons. A student-athlete has four seasons to make the most of his college playing career. Imagine working consistently for three years, being a steady, but somewhat unnoticed, member of the team and finally getting the chance to step into the spotlight. But just one week before the first game - a twinge in the leg in practice and everything changes.
Fifth-year senior wide receiver Roy Hall knows the feeling all too well - the highs of the anticipation and the lows of the injury. After a great spring practice, a summer filled with conditioning and improvements to his overall game and the best preseason practices of his career, Hall was expected to be Ohio State's third receiver for the 2006 season. But one practice one week before the season-opening game against Northern Illinois changed all that. And while it may have put a damper into the early part of his final season, it also made Hall savor the time he has left as a Buckeye.
Hall's preparation for the 2006 season began as soon as the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl ended in January. He knew it was his senior year, his one last hurrah. Hall had been a consistent player for the Buckeyes, playing in 37 career game since 2003, but he had often been lost in the offensive shuffle. His last season was his last opportunity to really make an impact. With fellow receiver Santonio Holmes leaving early to enter the NFL draft, Hall was prepared to work all offseason to secure his place as a standout on the Ohio State offense. After meeting with the coaching staff to breakdown the areas he needed to improve, Hall began his training. He had always been a reliable receiver who was a difficult defensive matchup with his strong 6-foot-3-inch, 240-pound frame, but he wanted to fine tune his game. Although he was entering the season, with such a strong corps of receivers, Hall knew playing time would be a battle and he needed to continue to develop his game because at no time is a position guaranteed.
Focusing on the little things - route-running and improvement of reading defensive coverage combined with hours upon hours of film study, featuring everything from Big Ten teams to current NFL wide receivers - Hall put in overtime. He knew the Buckeyes once again were going to be one of the top teams in the nation. He wanted to make sure he was a part of that.
"In the spring and offseason, it was a matter of completing my game," Hall said. "There were some things that (assistant head coach and wide receivers) Coach (Darrell) Hazell broke down and told me I needed to work on. He told me I needed to work on specific things to become a great receiver for us. All winter and spring I tried to work and get them corrected. Nothing serious to the point where I was deficient, but I had the ability to focus on those things in the spring because that's what spring ball is for. With Santonio leaving, I was able to watch a lot of film on him and some of the things he did. I watched a couple of tapes of NFL receivers and how they ran routes and did certain things. It helped me tremendously going into the season."
Hall took all of the advice from the coaches to heart, and his training in the offseason seemed to be paying off. As the team neared its season-opening game against Northern Illinois, was full of confidence. His time and effort was rewarded when he was named the third receiver. He was flying high.
"It was something I was looking forward to," Hall said. "All of my career, I had been a situation where I have fallen in and out of the mix. Coming in I knew it was going to be tough competition in the spring, but I felt I earned my position. It wasn't given to me. I was confident and I was ready to go."
And then, in a moment, it all went away.
In the final practice before NIU, Hall was running a route and in a split second he was down grabbing his leg. "Please, not my knee," he thought while heading to the training room.
To Hall's relief, his ACL and the rest of his knee was intact. But his ankle suffered a high sprain that was diagnosed with a four-to-six-week recovery period. Just like that, the season he had been training and hoping for, imagining since last January, seemed to vanish. All the hours of toiling and fine-tuning - gone.
"Initially, I was upset because of all the hard work and all that goes into getting ready for the year," Hall said. "It was my senior season and I wanted to be out there and contributing as much as I could. I knew the team would be ok because we're so deep at receiver, but for a second it was like all that hard work seemed like a waste."
"It was hard for him," Hazell added. "He had waited a long time to get into this position. You never want to see anyone go down, but he's such a good kid and works so hard that it was tough to see."
After dealing with the frustration of the high ankle sprain and coming to terms with having a limited season after unlimited expectations, Hall came to practice with a new mission. If he could not actually be on the field, he was going to play vicariously through the other receivers.
As part of the receiving unit, Hall had always worked with his fellow receivers in practice and had studied defenses with them in film sessions. But since his ankle was preventing him from working on his own game, he took the trio of freshmen receivers - Brian Hartline, Brian Robiskie and Ray Small - and began mentoring them. After three years of playing in every game, the three were "all ears" to any advice the senior wanted to hand out.
"Roy came to all the practices and team meetings and stayed really involved with the receivers, even when he couldn't play at all," Robiskie said. "He would talk to us and ask us questions when watching film. He would point out this and that and come at the games like he was going to play in them. He would tell us things that he would have been doing himself if he were out there on the field."
"The thing that Roy has done very well throughout this whole injury is that he has brought some of those younger guys along," Hazell commented. "He's been a great leader for those guys. He's taught them a lot of things. He's been tremendous that way."
While the little things Hall had done throughout his career had not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff, his positive attitude even with his injury was admired by his teammates and coaches. He could have sulked. He could have wallowed in the perceived wasted months of training and preparation, but instead the veteran realized he could still make an impact with the team by handing down lessons-learned to the rookies.
"It helps the team out," Hall said. "I'm glad they're not struggling. We all represent each other. Some people might think that we don't get along, because someone is a starter and someone is not. But at our position, we have a close relationship with each other. We all feel like we're brothers. When we're in the Woody Hayes, we're a huge family. When those guys go out there and do great, you're happy for them.
"When I got hurt, Robo (Robiskie) and Hartline stepped right in," he added. "That was great. It's like why not have the best six receivers in the nation. We need to have that. When I got hurt I was able to teach those guys a lot because I was able to see things I normally don't see. I could look for things. They learned a lot and are doing a great job. As a fifth-year senior, I could remember when Drew Carter, Michael Jenkins and Chris Vance used to try to help me get through. And now I'm a fifth-year senior helping guys like Ray Small and Robo to make them better players. They're receptive to all the criticism and praise, so it's turned out great."
Helping the young receivers out on the field may have helped Hall in his speedy return to the field. Turning the injury into an opportunity did not allow him to mope about his temporary limitation. By looking at the situation in a positive way and working just as hard at his rehabilitation has he did in his summer conditioning, Hall was determined to cut his recovery time in half. By the end of the third week of the season, he was practicing with the team before the Cincinnati game.
"I had lost a step," Hall said. "When I first got back I was about 80 percent, hobbling around out there, but it was good to be out there with the guys and not just a spectator on the sidelines. When I get old and gray, I want to be on the sidelines watching the games, but not wearing a yellow jersey at practice and watching everyone do what you normally do. I wouldn't say my ankle is back to 100 percent, but I don't think any player is at 100 percent after camp."
That return to the practice field was followed by an entire week of practices and then at home against Penn State, Hall entered an Ohio State game for the first time this season. Four weeks after his injury, after four weeks of living through his fellow receivers, he was able to experience the feel of a game for himself. The game put an end to his anticipation to play, but the mentoring he began four weeks earlier was not going to come to an end.
"He is still leading us and doing the same things he was doing when he couldn't play," Robiskie said. "Having him back out there is an even bigger strength. He's a really positive, vocal leader."
"I still encourage them to do the things that I was doing better and show them where I was going wrong," Hall said. "Helping them has allowed me to grow as a receiver as well. When you help people, it helps you - whether you realize it or not. It all worked out pretty well."
After having his anticipation for an outstanding senior season dashed right before the first game, Hall returned to the level excitement once again at Iowa. There all his training, studying, suffering, rehabbing and positive attitude paid off when he was standing in the endzone with the ball, scoring his first touchdown of the season.
"It felt so good to get in the end zone and to get the love from my teammates," Hall said. "But that time has come and gone and I just hope I can make some more plays for us this season."
That time has come and gone, just like the four years a student-athlete gets to participate at the college level. Hall could have ended his career on a bad note, instead he chose to remain positive and he turn his senior experience into a lesson learned - for both the young receivers and himself.
