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New offense, new opportunities

Air Force's Hall embraces role to catch, run, block

Jim Benton, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 9, 2007 at midnight

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AIR FORCE ACADEMY - Chad Hall stood five yards away, catching football after football shot toward him by the JUGS machine after Wednesday morning's Air Force practice.

He was doing the same thing before and after the afternoon practice session because it has become a pre- and post-practice routine this season.

New Falcons coach Troy Calhoun is demanding that everybody who wears an Air Force football uniform develop into a complete player.

That's especially true for Hall, a 5-foot-7, 180-pound senior who was the Falcons' leading rusher last season as a halfback.

In Air Force's new multiple offense, Hall now is a wide receiver- Z, a position that requires him to catch, run the ball and block.

"I'm comfortable with it (new position)," Hall said. "They say I'll carry it and touch it just as much. I'll do both. I can't wait. Hopefully, I'll get some mismatches against linebackers.

"We can do anything out of our offense. We can do the old stuff, we got all this new stuff and we're going to surprise some people."

One of the first moves Calhoun made during the spring was to switch Hall to the Z receiver position and let other players battle for the starting tailback job.

"He's a versatile guy," Calhoun said of Hall. "We want a guy there that can run with the ball well. He has good quickness. He's elusive in the open field and he's a guy with good ball skills.

"And I can see him adding another responsibility, and that is punt returner. He did it a little bit as a sophomore. If you're a punt returner, you have to have guts and confidence. He absolutely has that."

Hall gained 784 yards last season, the most by an Air Force halfback in 18 seasons, but now he's watching to see who will be the Falcons tailback this season.

It's something Calhoun doesn't know, and he hasn't ruled out incoming freshmen from challenging in the position battle.

Calhoun, who has chucked the triple-option formation, wants to find a hard-nosed tailback who will carry 20 times a game.

Senior Kip McCarthy, who gained 144 yards in 21 games the past two seasons, has moved from third to first on the depth chart after strong performances during the past few practices.

Calhoun expects he might have as many as five freshmen in the two-deep lineup.

HUNGRY KICKER: Junior kicker/ punter Ryan Harrison, who was limited to kicking in practice last year because he was on probation for a violation of Academy standards, had a good day in the morning kicking field goals, including a wind-aided 55-yarder.

"It was a little frustrating last year, but I think I learned a lot about myself and what I can go through and kind of used it to build on," Harrison said.

"I had a year to kick in practice and work on some things. I didn't get to stay for the games. It makes me that much more hungry. The whole thing, being off the field, kind of taught me things that, maybe being on the actual field itself, I would not have had a chance to learn."

INJURY UPDATE: Tailback Jim Ollis, a converted quarterback, will be out for two weeks because of an injured ankle, and offensive tackle Dan Holder could be out four to five weeks because of a sprained knee.