Jordan Hall: The “Big Baby” 2023 signee is tearing up the All-American Bowl out in Texas

Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest from Georgia’s 2023 signees in Texas for the 2023 All-American Bowl. This rep focuses on the work from 4-star DL signee Jordan “Big Baby” Hall. Hall ranks as the nation’s No. 9 DL and the No. 73 overall prospect for 2023 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

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SAN ANTONIO, Tex. -- Jordan “Big Baby” Hall ranks as the nation’s No. 9 DL and the No. 77 overall prospect for 2023 for the 247Sports Composite rankings. He’s the No. 6 DL prospect and the No. 56 overall player for the On3 Consensus.

He was named as one of the top performers by On3Sports for the first day of practices while DawgNation was traveling to Texas from the Under Armour All-American Game in Florida.

We got to see Hall up close yesterday and he was everything: Fierce. Dominating. Fast. Flashing. Everywhere. Physical.

If one would have told onlookers Hall was practicing to retain his scholarship, the effort level would have made sense. On3Sports even named him its most outstanding overall performer from a loaded East team on Wednesday.

That came after a morning session and a joint practice session with the West team on Wednesday.

Everyone has their lists. The 247Sports Composite rankings list Hall as the eighth-highest-rated signee in the 2023 class for Georgia. He could wind up the ninth depending on what happens with the strong pursuit down the stretch for 5-star TE Duce Robinson.

The DawgNation list treats Hall differently. He was ranked as the No. 1 top target on the weekly “Before the Hedges” list for a two-month stretch of his recruitment. He is easily among the most likely signees to make an impact early. He is clearly among the top five 2023 signees on the DawgNation list.

That was the case coming in. He’s simply elevating the perception this week in San Antonio against the top players in the country.

The 6-foot-3.5, 315-pounder is a game wrecker. He wanted to show out this week in Texas. Kind of like what Georgia freshman DE Mykel Williams did here exactly one year ago.

He’s treating these practices like he’s about to play TCU on Monday.

“Heck yeah,” he said.

There was a clear agenda when he made this trip.

“I’m really out here to play football, compete and have fun,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I don’t care about the rankings and stuff like that but certain stuff I take personally.”

That would be some players being perceived as better than he is. That’s okay. He’s good with that. He can’t change the perceptions. But he has a national stage this week to offer up his own rebuttal.

“I feel like there are a bunch of guys that I am just as good as,” he said. “They’re ranked higher than me. Kudos to you. We’ll let see if that is the case this week. That’s going to bring me out to work. Honestly, I just feel like the body of work I’ve put out over these past couple of years has really been taken for granted and I came here to prove to myself that I am one of the better defensive linemen in my class if not the best.”

“To prove that to myself. Not to anyone else.”

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Jordan “Big Baby” Hall: What to really like about this ‘Dawg

If there’s one thing the All-American Weeks have shown us already, it is that the Georgia program is not going anywhere. It is not leveling off.

It feels more like it is ascending.

That is because of great players who burn to play well at Georgia like Hall. Not only to play well and advance to the NFL stage. There’s the wrinkle that they want to do it for the Bulldogs.

Hall saw constant double and triple teams in high school. His Westside High teams in Jacksonville only won three combined games in his junior and senior seasons.

So he’s hungry. He might also have an All-American offensive lineman in his way this week at all times, but it is only just one man.

“It is easier,” he said. “I am playing against much better competition than I have been playing against but I am doing the same things I was doing during the season,” he said. “I’m just out here. Trying to show proof. Just against one man. It makes my job pretty easy. That’s what I am looking forward to in college. Just getting into a strength program and honestly just having to do my job only on a great team.”

He’s never really lifted weights until the last year or so. At least not on a regimen.

Hall will report to UGA on the day Georgia plays the Horned Frogs. That will be his first day of school.

He got that “Big Baby” name because he was thrust into a spring game at an early age. He was big enough. Big enough that some folks that he was a senior. He was really just a freshman. He got thrown around a bit and didn’t handle it well.

His emotions came out and he picked up the name “Big Baby” because everyone thought he was older. That name stuck.

Hall now wears it like a badge of honor. It reflects his growth from that nickname to a game-wrecking All-American among All-Americans.

It is at the point when the East coaches asked him what name he preferred this week, he calmly stated “Big Baby” and got to work.

“Very good kid,” East defensive line coach Greg Vandagriff of Prince Avenue Christian Academy said, “Intelligent. Respectful. I asked him today after we were going East vs. West if he liked it better if I had him working left to right in the scheme or if he just wanted to push the gap.”

Some players, especially those hell-bent on making a name for themselves, would ask for the freedom to do that on the fly.

That’s the key difference here with Hall.

“He said ‘Coach I am going to do whatever you call’ which tells me a lot of things that he’s for the team and he’s not for himself,” Vandagriff said. “A kid for himself would say I will make a decision on that. So I was really impressed that a kid at this playing level has this kind of maturity.”

Hall will be on the side of the nation’s No. 1 EDGE rusher this week. That’s Alabama-bound Keon Keeley. The West team will likely not be able to work much of anything off that side in the All-American Bowl on Saturday afternoon on NBC.

Those two have been dynamic this week. Perhaps the best two players in Texas.

“Hall is just dominating inside,” Vandagriff said. “He really is. Just really good with his hands. Really good with his leverage and then a super coachable kid. You also see him showing leadership among the other kids. There’s a group and then there’s a group inside the group. That they all kind of all look to. He’s definitely one of those everyone is already looking to.”

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will be able to see special 1-on-1 content with 2023 commits CJ Allen, AJ Harris and Jamaal Jarrett.

Jordan “Big Baby” Hall chose Georgia over Florida

His college decision came down to the Bulldogs and the Gators. Hall had been trending to the ‘Dawgs for some time at least privately, but he knew he was going to be at UGA after he took his official visit to Florida.

That was on December 2.

He loved both coaching staff. Loved the recruiting staffs at both schools.

“At Georgia, I feel like I fit real best there,” Hall said. “Georgia had an actual real plan that I see fitting and that I believe in and that I will work so hard to follow. Overall, I just feel that Georgia is an overall better fit for me as a person. Not just a player.”

Hall has a lot of goals when he gets to Georgia.

“I think for the past couple of years Coach [Tray] Scott has had consecutive Freshman All-American defensive linemen and I want to be the next one to do that,” Hall said. “I feel like I can do that with the way I am going to come in and with the mindset, I am going to come in with and the way that Coach Scott is going to coach me up. I feel I can do that.”

He’s ready for the standard of playing for a program that will have played in two consecutive national championship games.

“I’m game to just step into the fire there and make myself better,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of guys around me I believe in with Christen [Miller] and Mykel [Williams] and Bear [Alexander] and they are willing to help me develop. Everybody in the D-line room is trying to see everybody win. One of the things we talk about is let’s all get fed and let’s all get to the money here after Georgia. If we all help each other out, I feel that’s something we can all accomplish together. Playing together.”

“But honestly I’m ready to go in there. I’ve got the mindset that I am going to take somebody’s spot. I do. I want to be that guy. Do you know what I am saying?”

Watching him this week. You certainly do.

SENTELL’S INTEL

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