Now that one Duke graduate has a starting job with the Hawaii offense, another former Blue Devil has aspirations of earning a spot with the first team.
Like new Warriors quarterback Sean Schroeder, tight end Ryan Hall headed to Hawaii to jump-start his college football career after completing his undergraduate work at Duke.
Schroeder was elevated to the top of the quarterback hierarchy on Monday and Hall hopes to be on the other end of some of his throws this season.
“We both worked really hard at Duke, we both got a great education, played for a great coach and with a bunch of great guys, but we didn’t really get a chance to play,” Hall said. “He and I had some really good players in front of us. We just weren’t really getting a shot and I’m happy to have the opportunity here.”
Hall had Hawaii on his mind when he finished up his course work at Duke, where he had two years of eligibility remaining. His mother works for Disney and has spent quite a bit of time in Hawaii since the opening of the Aulani resort. His girlfriend is a Punahou graduate from Mililani whom he met at Duke.
“My original decision was to work out here,” Hall said.
“I had this gut feeling I wanted to play and Sean told me about the situation here, that Coach (Norm) Chow was coming in and he obviously has a great reputation. I heard they were looking for tight ends to add some depth. So I thought what better opportunity than just walk on and give it a shot.”
Hall graduated from Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla., a semester early and took 31⁄2 years to earn a degree at Duke, where he majored in American history with minors in theater studies and visual arts. As a graduate student enrolled in UH’s masters of human resource management program, he’s allowed to transfer without sitting out a year.
Hall redshirted his first year at Duke, was on the scout team as a freshman and played on special teams last season and didn’t catch a pass as a reserve tight end. Looking back, Hall takes responsibility for his lack of playing time rather than questioning the decisions of the coaching staff.
“I felt a lot of it was my fault, that I hadn’t tried hard enough, that I hadn’t given it my all, and I wanted to take a second shot at it because I couldn’t sleep thinking about the fact that I never got a chance to play,” Hall said.
“I think I put too much pressure on myself and kind of beat myself.”
Now that he’s in Hawaii, “I feel comfortable out here, it’s fun for me again.”
Hall also has a relatively high comfort level with the pro-style offense Chow is installing, having played in a similar system at Duke and in high school.
“It definitely works in his favor,” UH tight ends coach Philip Rauscher said. “He has three years of practices like this under his belt, so this is nothing new to him.”
Hall is among five tight ends on the UH roster — joining returnees Darius Bright and Craig Cofer and freshmen Harold Moleni and Ethan Watanabe — although there is a differentiation in roles within the group.
Hall has been running first at the F position, which lines up in a slot and will often go in motion before the snap before taking on a linebacker or running a route downfield.
Moleni is among the early leaders at the Y, which typically blocks defensive ends and runs shorter routes.
“Ryan has some ACC experience and good hands and understanding of our offensive system, and Harold has been absorbing everything like a sponge,” Rauscher said.
Moleni originally committed to Utah State out of high school, but signed with UH after completing a two-year mission in Spokane, Wash.
“It’s been three or four years since I put pads on,” Moleni said. “So there’s a lot of rust to get off. … It’s a big jump from mission conditioning to football conditioning.”
