Hall establishes a first for Vista

04-28-2007

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Over the years Vista High has turned out many great football players, but the Panthers have never boasted of a first-round NFL draft pick until now.

Leon Hall, a cornerback from Michigan, was drafted in the first round by the Cincinnati Bengals on April 28 with the 18th pick overall.

Hall had been projected as high as the a Top 10 pick and as the first cornerback overall, but Pittsburgh cornerback Darrelle Revis chosen with the 14th pick by the New York Jets.

"I'm not disappointed at all. My thing has always been to play in the NFL," Hall said. "I'm definitely excited about going to Cincinnati, and to play over there. I wanted to go as early as possible and that's where I'm going."

A consensus All-American, Hall led the Wolverines with 18 pass deflections, intercepted three, and recovered a fumble. In 50 college games at Michigan, Hall had 12 picks, deflected 43 passes and recovered five fumbles, including one for touchdown. He’s not viewed as a punt returner, although he did have a touchdown out of 15 returns.

The Bengals were looking for a cornerback to improve their pass defense after a disappointing 8-8 season.

"My overall game is good,” Hall said. “I'm able to play different coverages --bump-and-run, off coverages, cover two. I can also help stop up the run. I'm also a good character guy. I know for a fact knowing myself and the people that I put myself around, I'm staying out of trouble. I won't have any problems with that.”

Character was an important issue for the Bengals after a series of players wer arrested in the past two seasons. Hall learned the news he had been drafted by the Bengals while celebrating with family and friends at a draft day party at La Costa.

At the NFL scouting combine back in February, Hall had to answer questions about getting beat by wide receivers Ted Ginn of Ohio State and Dwayne Jarrett of USC late in the season.

“I definitely had those two bad reps,” Hall said. “That one against Ted Ginn was a mental mistake on my part and then the one against Dwayne Jarrett was an alignment issue,” Hall said. “I earned from them, definitely, I went back and watched the film. Those are the type of plays you don't want to have.”

But Hall said he is still confident he belongs in the NFL as a shutdown cornerback.

“That's part of the game,” he said. “Going to the next level, you're going to go against a lot of great receivers,” he said. “And one thing my coach told me is that you're going to go up against great players, they're going to make plays and you're going to make plays. You just want to make more than they do.”