Collegiate Times

Vince Hall brings down UNC running back Ryan Houston behind the line of scrimmage in 2007. Hall is currently under contract with the Buffalo Bills.

What ever happened to Vince Hall?

The legend of number nine still haunts quarterbacks and running backs alike.  His hard-hitting and quick reflexes combined with those of former Hokie star Xavier Adibi - currently with the Houston Texans - will not soon be forgotten.

But after missing four games his senior season after breaking his left wrist against Clemson and injuring his knee during a beach outing right before the Orange Bowl against the University of Kansas, Vince Hall was not drafted in the 2008 NFL Draft.

The All-ACC linebacker landed in St. Louis as an undrafted free agent in 2008 only to tear his hamstring and be cut the following September.

"When I first came in, I was a free agent with St. Louis.  When I was with there, I tore my hamstring before the preseason started and they put me on injured reserve, but when I got healthy they cut me," Hall said. "I was at home until about week 11 doing my workouts, then I got signed on the practice squad for the Buffalo Bills and they signed me back at the end of the season."

On Jan. 15 2009, the Buffalo Bills signed Hall to their practice squad with a future free agent contract.  This meant that he was automatically a part of the team when the NFL contract cycle for 2009 started in March.

Hall, a Chesapeake, Va. native, started turning heads in high school.

"My sophomore year we [Oakton] played them [Western Branch] on our way to states and he was Gatorade Player of the Year, the coaches were all talking about him," said former teammate Cody Grimm.  "We actually ended up beating them, and I remember he took his helmet off after the game and he had this like full beard and I was like, 'Now that's a man'.  I'm still working on my 'stache and this guy has a full beard."

Little did Grimm know that the two would soon be teammates at Virginia Tech.

"I actually played middle linebacker for a little bit, which isn't what he played," Grimm said.  "But just watching him on film, you know he's a really good player, a great guy, good teammate, outgoing and stuff.   Watching him on film and stuff, you can learn so much.  How he plays, he'd see a lineman pull and not even look at a running back and run 20 yards to get that running back for a loss.  That's just the kind of football player he is. He's not the fastest, or the quickest, or strongest or anything, but he can read stuff really fast and just puts himself in good situations to make plays."

Tech Football defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Bud Foster had nothing but good things to say about Hall.

"Vince was one of the best football players I ever had the opportunity to coach.  He had a great football IQ and he had the best vision of guys that I'd coached in a long time," Foster said. "He's a very instinctive football player; he understood the game and knew his positions so well that he would just play; overall just a really complete football player.  One of the best linebackers in the 23 years that I've been here, if not the best linebacker play in and play out that I've ever coached."

As one of Hall's mentors through his development as both a person and a player, Foster sees good things for Vince in the future, both in football and in life.

"He was a four-year starter and really was a big-time football player.  I'm disappointed for him that he got hurt toward the end of his [college] career, because there's going to be guys that are bigger size-wise, but I don't know if there are going to be guys from a football standpoint that are better," Foster said. "He just needs to get healthy. He's in camp now and hopefully they'll see up there what we've all seen the last four years that he is capable of doing."

Since graduation, Hall still visits the Blacksburg area regularly.  Hall comes down to visit his daughter, who lives in Christiansburg with her mother, and to visit teammates and talk to former coaches.  

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