COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. broke out from the start of the 2022 season, then he broke down.
Not completely, actually. Hall missed one game and remained available for the most important games of the season. Shoulder injuries, though, reduced his workload to an average of 15.2 snaps over the final five games.
Hall declared his injury issues behind him in the spring. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson took things a step farther recently when asked how much he expected Hall to play in the Buckeyes’ interior defensive line rotation this fall.
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“Probably in that 45-50 range,” Johnson said, when asked how many snaps a healthy Hall could play this fall.
That likely sounds great to Hall, who knows what sort of trajectory he was on last season. He made big plays in the season-opening victory against Notre Dame — a win built on a defensive foundation. Even after the injuries struck, he played a mere eight snaps at Michigan State and recorded 2.5 sacks.
One could argue he flashed more next-level moments than anyone on the defensive line last season. Some of the defense’s other potentially promising seasons were held back either by injury or inexperience. Hall, though, cashed in a decent amount of the expectations of his teammates who nicknamed him “Baby Aaron Donald.”
Which is why Johnson’s snaps prediction, when put in context, potentially puts Hall in position for a massive impact this fall — if his body cooperates.
Tommy Togiai averaged 41.5 snaps in the COVID-19 pandemic-interrupted 2020 season. No other defensive tackle has averaged 40 snaps under Johnson since Dre’Mont Jones (58.6) in 2018. Jones had averaged 37 the prior year, so that jump is in part a testament to how much OSU needed him on the field after Nick Bosa’s season-ending injury.
Jones in 2018 remains the only example of a defensive tackle averaging 40 or more snaps in the past seven seasons. So does Hall pushing 50 snaps in 2023 seem realistic?
While Hall remains the most talented member of the group, Johnson does like deep rotations, and he has other options. Ty Hamilton emerged as a starter last season and is the most natural nose guard option. Tyleik Williams has always graded out well and earned some valuable experience last season when Hall’s workload dipped.
Then Ohio State added Ole Miss transfer Tywone Malone. While Johnson alluded to how much that addition helps the tackle group’s depth, his upside is clearly higher as a former top-100 prospect.
On the other hand, Hall played 40 snaps last season against Rutgers. He played 32 at Penn State after OSU had already begun managing his snaps due to the shoulder issues. He is also enough of a pass-rush threat that he will likely remain on the field for Rushmen packages, as opposed to some of the four-defensive end alignments Johnson used in the past.
So what could it look like if Hall recaptures the early season spark and applies it to the sort of workload Johnson suggested?
Hall recorded 4.5 sacks last season on 149 pass snaps, per Pro Football Focus. Passing snaps accounted for about 56% of his total (and was a reasonable average across OSU’s most-used defensive linemen). So that would mean 28 pass snaps per game if playing 50 total.
So take Hall’s 2022 sack rate, multiply it by 28 opportunities against the pass and multiple that by a 12-game regular season, and you’re crossing into a double-digit sack year.
That’s highly ambitious, since no Buckeye has averaged even half a sack per game since Chase Young left for the NFL.
Of course, math is maybe the least important subject when determining Hall’s impact in 2023. Biology, anatomy, physiology — those determine whether he remains honor roll caliber or graduates to a higher level.
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