Zach Harrison isn’t always thrilled to speak with the media. But the senior pass rusher exuded an uncommon excitement when talking about one Ohio State defensive lineman last week.
Harrison spoke at length about the impact of second-year defensive tackle Mike Hall, who was fresh off a breakout performance in his first-ever start in the Buckeyes’ season opener against Notre Dame. Harrison gave such a lengthy answer that J.T. Tuimoloau, who was sitting next to Harrison during their joint interview session, interrupted his stablemate to put things more succinctly.
“Baby Aaron Donald,” Tuimoloau said. “That's what I've been saying.”
No doubt hyperbolic to compare a 19-year-old with just one start under his belt to one of the greatest defensive tackles in NFL history, Harrison said he’d been thinking the same thing.
“That's a crazy comparison, but nah for real. I was thinking about that the other day,” Harrison said. “I'm like, ‘Bro is strong.’ He's a smaller nose guard, but he's not weak. He's got heavy hands, he's strong.”
Apparently the defensive line isn’t the only unit that’s seen the similarities. Buckeye cornerback Cameron Brown wandered up to Harrison and Tuimoloau during their interview and overheard the pair talking about Hall. Without being prompted with the Donald comparison, Brown said the following: “Oh Mike? That's a dog right there. Looks like Aaron Donald to me.”
Whether or not the redshirt freshman reaches quite that level of achievement (or even half of it) remains to be seen. But what’s plenty clear two games into Ohio State’s 2022 season is Hall is emerging as a bona fide defensive star for the Buckeyes despite entering the year with just 35 snaps of experience.
And it didn’t take Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles or head coach Ryan Day until the season opener to realize it.
“I thought it the first time I saw him go full speed against talented offensive linemen. Because it is rare. That first step is very rare,” Knowles said. “There are a lot of talented guys, a lot of strong guys, a lot of athletic guys, but the ability to get off the ball, it's a split-second thing. And it's just something that some guys have. He has it. … He has tremendous potential. He earns what he gets, I think sky's the limit in terms of where he can end up.”
Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson joked after the Buckeyes’ first preseason scrimmage that Hall was the best third-string tackle he’d ever seen. But whatever he showed in the subsequent weeks shot Hall to the top of the depth chart.
Given the presence of veteran tackles like Jerron Cage, Ty Hamilton and Taron Vincent on the Buckeye roster, Hall has to be especially impressive to get snaps ahead of players who have more experience in scarlet and gray.
With two sacks and five tackles for loss – just two fewer than the team-leading figure in all of 2021 – after two weeks of action, impressive might be an understatement.
“In the preseason you could see what he was doing. He's very disruptive,” Day said Tuesday. “And you really have to earn your way here. You know, you don't just get thrown into it when you have some guys who have been here for a little bit longer, and so you have to earn your time. But at the end of the day, the best players play, and he's been very productive. I think he's got five TFLs maybe in the first two games, and so if he can keep building on that, a lot of good things are gonna happen.”
Hall’s been so good that he’s almost completely overshadowed fellow class of 2021 tackle Tyleik Williams, whose five-sack freshman season made him a strong candidate for breakout stardom in 2022. Beyond his impact on a particular play, Harrison said the emotion Hall shows on the field is infectious for teammates during the game.
“Mike's almost like a spark plug for the defense. Like, y'all see him out there like going crazy. We all feed off of that,” Harrison said. “It's like nah, Mike turnt, we tryna get turnt with Mike. And it just feeds everybody else to make plays and stuff like that. … He's explosive, like he's got explosion like wide receivers, DBs.”
Hall’s early-season productivity made it all the more concerning for Buckeye fans when he went down after a play in the third quarter against Arkansas State. Hall stayed on the field with trainers for an extended period of time, and took his shoulder pads off when he returned to the sideline.
“He's just a special player. One of those guys that when you see him do stuff on the field, you acknowledge – especially being around for a while – not everybody can do that.”– Zach Harrison on Mike Hall
Hall didn’t play again for the rest of the game, but Day said after the game that the incident shouldn’t keep Hall off the field moving forward. The Buckeye head coach said the same thing at his Tuesday press conference.
While Hall’s quick rise might come as a surprise for many fans, who wouldn’t have heard his name much even if they watched every Ohio State snap last season, his teammates and coaches aren’t the least bit shocked. Knowles said Hall’s practice habits are just as praiseworthy as his natural ability on the football field.
“He's a talented guy. But it's an effort and more of a habit. In those critical situations, unless you've dialed up something perfect, you fall back to your training and your habits,” Knowles said. “We've been talking about Mike Hall since I got here. He's just been doing that over and over again. So when it happens in the game, you're not surprised because that's just the way he practices and plays.”
Harrison said the next step for Hall is garnering the self-belief necessary to dominate on an even more consistent basis. If he does that in short order, Hall might be the face of the Buckeye defense well before the end of the season.
“He's just a special player. One of those guys that when you see him do stuff on the field, you acknowledge – especially being around for a while – not everybody can do that,” Harrison said. “I feel like he's starting to realize that more and more as he's making plays, and especially having last Saturday (against Notre Dame). Him building on it and getting the confidence to go out there and be like, ‘Nah, these dudes can't block me.’
“And that's the mindset that we try to tell Mike, like ‘Mike, bro, you're like that, you're a dog.’ He's starting to get that mindset, just keep rolling.”
