Meet Up! Get to know new Browns DT Michael Hall, Jr.

The defense gets another piece of the puzzle to keep this elite status going

The Cleveland Browns went into the 2024 NFL draft with several needs, but not for any starting position on both sides of the ball plus on special teams. Every player selected this year can become depth and develop for a future season or even two seasons from now. What a luxury this is.

Without a first-round draft pick for the third year in a row, each choice is an important piece to keep this playoff ship going for years to come in the toughest division in the NFL.

So, with their first draft pick, GM Andrew Berry selected Ohio State defensive tackle Michael Hall, Jr. (6’-3”, 290 pounds).

The choice of Hall at first glance may be a bit of a head-scratcher only because the DT room is so full right now.

Currently, Dalvin Tomlinson and Mo Hurst are the starters. Re-signed was Shelby Harris while Chris Williams and Jayden Peevy signed reserve/future contracts. In free agency Quinton Jefferson was brought in. Berry has now drafted a DT two years in a row as he took Baylor DT Siaka Ika in the 2023 draft.

Suddenly, there are eight defensive tackles on the roster. Traditionally, Cleveland has kept four DTs and four DEs but last year, DC Jim Schwartz kept five.

Who exactly is Michael Hall, Jr.? And how does he fit into the plans for the Browns’ defense?

Beginnings

The talented player was actually born in Cleveland. He was a big kid right off the bat and by the age of eight months was opening the refrigerator door by himself without the assistance of his older brother Brandon.

He began his high school career at Benedictine High School, a Catholic preparatory institution located on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Cleveland. Hall’s mom Linda Hick found a job in nearby Streetsboro, Ohio and the family moved there. It wasn’t an easy adjustment for Hall who had lived his entire life in the big city and was now thrust into more of a rural and farm setting.

In an interview with the Record-Courier, Hall explained about the relocation process:

“At first when I got here, it was just weird. Streetsboro is like right together. Everybody knows everybody. You know you see them every day. So, it’s just crazy. I’m not a big fan of meeting new people.”

Hall attended Streetsboro High School where he played football and basketball, and worked at the nearby McDonald’s located on State Road 14. Actually, just about everything is located on State Road 14, or Highway 43, or State Road 303 all of which are just south of Interstate 80. They all intersect into Streetsboro named after settler Titus Street in 1798.

He became known as the big but quiet kid. A friend who also worked at the fast-food joint got Hall to start working out in the weight room, which he soon fell in love with.

While living in Cleveland, Hall had played football his freshman year at Benedictine but was clumsy and uncoordinated for his size. When he tried out at Streetsboro, he started on both sides of the ball and was considered one of the best offensive guards in the area who was quick and could move for a kid who was now 6’-2” and weighed 295 pounds.

As he became successful on the field, he matured. He began to take his grades more seriously. He quit hanging around and doing nothing on Friday nights or cruising the streets looking for something to do. His friend list also changed as he quit relationships with guys who weren’t taking care of him. That is when the college offers began to flood in.

Hall learned to read film and he became a gym rat.

After his senior year, he was named First Team All-League, First Team All-District, and First Team All-State.

He had offers from Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State, Florida State, Arkansas, Penn State, Cincinnati, Pitt, Kentucky, Akron, Kent State, and Michigan State.

He had attended a football camp at Kentucky after his sophomore year in high school. Just weeks from his 16^th birthday, the Kentucky Wildcats offered him a football scholarship. Mentally, he didn’t know what to do – or expect.

At the time, he told the Record-Courier:

“I didn’t really know how the process worked. I thought you got an offer on paper really. I didn’t really know you just say you get an offer, so it took me a minute to process, but on my way home, it was just crazy, like, oh my God, they’re happy for me, cheering me on, just talking about it on social media, it was just crazy.”

If he had said yes, he would have joined the powerful SEC.

Going into this junior year, he also had scholarship tenders from Kent State, Akron, and his first Big 10 offer Michigan State. As that season rolled along, the college proposals slowly blew up as other schools sent scouts to watch him play, and then submit an offer for him to come play for them. But he placed a timeline on himself and decided to wait until his 17^th birthday to address the situation and hopefully make a decision.

He was rated a four-star prospect and the #4 ranked defensive tackle in the nation. Before his senior year, he also played some offensive guard before being switched full-time to the defense. As a senior, he had 72 total tackles, five sacks, and 17 tackles for loss. He was known as a pass rusher. These stats could have been a lot more as he suffered a broken hand in Week 4 and missed multiple games.

Hall was regarded as an explosive player who got off the ball quickly and had good speed for his position and body size.

After his junior year, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day reached out. They offered him advice and he took it. They told him that they wanted to work on his explosiveness, flexibility, hand placement, and speed. They also encouraged him to stick to the defensive side of the ball.

The next summer Coach Day contacted Hall again and informed him that because he had done his part, they would make him a scholarship offer. Hall wanted to wait and weigh his options although he had grown up an OSU fan.

It was because of Ohio State’s suggestion that Hall abandoned the offensive guard position to focus solely on being a defensive lineman.

One night Coach Day and defensive line coach Larry Johnson came to watch one of Hall’s basketball games. Afterward, the two men were able to talk to Hall’s mom. Hall gave this detail:

“Ohio State really had my mother involved. She felt comfortable. I couldn’t go nowhere if my mother didn’t feel safe with me going there.”

During his senior season, Hall had visits to Ohio State, the University of Cincinnati, Kentucky, and Penn State. All four pushed hard for his signature, but he had decided to commit somewhere close to home. In the end, he chose Ohio State and signed a letter of intent on December 16, 2020. Columbus was just a bit over a two-hour car ride from Streetsboro.

Hall was redshirted his freshman year after playing in two games. As a sophomore, he won the starting DT position and started half the season with 19 total tackles with 4.5 sacks, 7.5 tackles for loss, plus one fumble recovery. He did have a minor shoulder injury during this season.

In his final season, he had 24 total tackles, two sacks, and two tackles for loss. He was invited to the prestigious Reese’s Senior Bowl where he was the talk of all defensive players who attended.

His accolades: 2022 Honorable Mention All-Big 10, and 2023 Third Team All-Big 10.

Hall was also invited to the Combine. Here are his numbers:

*Arm: 33 ½”

*Hand: 10”

*Wingspan: 81 1/8”

*40 time: 4.78

*Vertical jump: 33”

*Broad jump: 9’-3”

Scouting report on NFL.com:

Hall did not put up big production numbers in 2023. However, a detailed breakdown of his tape shows an inside pass rusher with explosive and disruptive traits to beat interior OL and attack the pocket.

What immediately showed up when you watched Hall’s tape was the initial, sudden quickness off the ball, especially as a pass rusher. He has excellent lateral agility, balance, body control and explosive closing burst to the QB. Hall is an advanced interior pass rusher who could win 1-on-1 vs. OGs and OCs with his explosiveness and rapid-fire hand usage.

He was effective with stunt concepts as a looper and penetrator. Hall would best project to the next level as a 1-gap 3-technique in a four-man front. He will more than likely begin his career as a sub-defense DT, rushing the QB. That way, his off-the-ball-explosiveness, lateral agility, quickness and dynamic hand usage (explosive club arm over move) would present challenges for interior OL.

The Browns then drafted him with their first pick in the draft in the second round at pick #54. With the addition of Hall, this makes the team’s fourth Ohio State player, second only to five Alabama athletes.

Different NFL draft sites had their own ranking of where Hall fit in this year’s draft. Here are the numbers: Pro Football Focus #107, Draft Countdown #56, NFL Draft Buzz #72, Walter Football #116, The Draft Network #36, Pro Football Network #54, CBS Sports #48, The Ringer #32, The Athletic #59, The Huddle Report #57.

Follow Hall on social media:

Twitter: @MichaelHallJr_

Instagram: @michaelhalljr_

What should Browns fans expect from Hall?

Hall made just 11 starts in 28 games played while at Ohio State. He would dominate in some games such as against Notre Dame and Maryland, then disappear in other contests.

He lined up at 3-technique and 1-technique in Ohio State’s four-man front. He was deployed as a rotational DT in 2023, playing approximately half the snaps (410 snaps out of 838). Hall played significant snaps at 1-technique, but we do not see him as a 1-technique in the NFL.

RELATED: MICHAEL HALL, JR. PROFILE

The knock on him is he cannot play through double-teams and needs to do a better job locking out arms with extension in the run game in order to keep his lower half clean to play off contact. His array of moves is a short list and he must improve as a run stuffer.

But Hall has great power and will show up as an inside pass rusher. He has natural quickness to power with exceptional body control.

Hall, who is just 20 years old, was not drafted to get significant snaps this season. Last year Ika received just 100 defensive snaps for 9.42% of defensive reps. And most of those were from the middle of the season until the conclusion of the year. Hall will most likely get the same amount of on-field attention and around the midway point finally get placed into the defensive tackle rotation.

WHY HE COULD SUCCEED:

Hall has the first-step burst, upper-body power, and length to make an immediate impact as a rotational interior rusher.

WHY HE COULD FAIL:

He’s undersized and could be viewed as a rotational player only; he needs to develop more pass-rush moves.

---

The idea is for Hall and Ika to become the starters one day. Maybe next season, or the year after that. But for now, Hall will need to pay attention to these veteran players and become a sponge.

For Cleveland, this is surely a luxury.