Penn State Nittany Lions welcome LB Jordan Hall for another visit
The Penn State Nittany Lion football program welcomed IMG Academy linebacker Jordan Hall to campus Saturday night for its annual Stripe Out game against Indiana.
A Rivals250 prospect who grew up in Fredericksburg, Va., Hall visited Penn State back in June and left with plenty of praise for the coaching staff, telling Blue White Illustrated, ‘we loved everything about it.’
Since September 1, which is when coaches were allowed to initiate conversations with players in the 2023 class, Hall's relationship with the Nittany Lion staff has only grown even more.
“It’s going great,” Hall said. “I talk to Coach [Ja’Juan] Seider and Coach [Alan Zemaitis] the most. I talk on the phone with Coach [Brent] Pry whenever he has time, too. But the relationship is great. We like talking to each other and getting to know each other. We talk a lot about football, but we talk about a lot of other things, too. They were excited to get me down there and I was excited to visit.”
Hall went on to add, “They’re just really nice, genuine guys. They really make me feel welcomed. My family really felt appreciated and welcomed when we were there, but even before we came to visit, they made us feel like part of their family already, especially since September 1st.”
With IMG Academy, which is based in Bradenton, Fla., having two straight bye weeks before they play again on October 15, Hall and his teammates were given a rare opportunity to go home for a few days during the season. Hall said that’s the main reason why he was able to make it up to Penn State Saturday.
“With me being home for only a few days, I wanted to spend as much time at home as possible, so we really just came up for the game and went home,” he said. “I did get to speak with the coaches before the game. I probably talked to every coach on their staff. Also, Coach [James] Franklin sat down with me and my family before the game. We appreciated that.
“But during the game, man, Penn State is crazy. The atmosphere is awesome. Everyone is jumping around, having fun. They’re winning football games right now, so that always makes it a great time and a great experience there.”
Hall, who's back at IMG for practice this week, is planning to go home again this upcoming weekend, which will allow him to visit Virginia Tech Saturday night for its game against Notre Dame. Later in the season, he’s planning to also attend South Carolina's season finale against Clemson, and would also like to see a game at Florida if his schedule allows it.
In regards to narrowing his list of schools - Hall currently holds 16 scholarship offers - he said that’ll likely come in the spring.
“It’s still a little too early for me to start narrowing things down because a lot of the schools I talk to still haven’t offered,” he said. “Some of the main schools that speak with me weekly haven’t offered yet, so I want to see what they decide to do. Schools like Florida, Florida State, Clemson, Oregon, Auburn, Oklahoma. Those are a few schools, and there are a few others as well.
“So, I’ll probably wait to see where schools stand into the springtime. Ideally, I’d like to be able to narrow everything down by April."
With that said, Hall also made it clear that the Nittany Lions have put themselves in a strong position early on.
“Penn State is a great program and a great coaching staff," Hall said. "Everything that they’ve shown is a lot of what I’m looking for in a school. I’ll definitely be making sure I keep building a close relationship with their coaches moving forward.”
A four-star prospect, Hall currently ranks No. 165 nationally. He’s the ninth-ranked inside linebacker and the 36th-ranked player in Florida for the class. Other notable offers include Arizona State, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.
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