By Michael KlitzingSports Editor
The last time he stepped on the field at Sam Boyd Stadium in LasVegas, Adam Hall had a day he would have liked to forget. Andnowadays, except for a few details, the senior San Diego Statequarterback has done just that.
“I just remember that we lost – got killed – and it was a longflight home,” Hall said. “That’s all I really remember. I don’t thinkabout it at all.”
That day was Oct. 13, 2001. Hall faced UNLV in his first careerstart, and the inexperienced sophomore was dreadful as SDSU washammered 31-3 – one of many lifeless defeats that season spelling theend for head coach Ted Tollner.
Hall completed just seven of 15 passes for 51 yards and did notstart another game that year.
“He just wasn’t getting into the right grooves,” sophomore widereceiver Jeff Webb recalls. “We had a lot of three-and-outs and weweren’t successful throwing the ball. It was just a hard game forus.”
Especially for the quarterback.
While he might be a little foggy on specifics now, Hall said heagonized over his performance at the time. In his first year playingat Montezuma Mesa, he was very much a victim of doubt, pressure andregret. He would mull over a bad performance to the point that whenthe next game rolled around, he would be an emotional mess.
“Back then, I had a now-or-never attitude instead of trying tobuild my game each week,” Hall said. “When it happened, I feltterrible. I felt like I had messed up everything.
“But that was two years ago.”
It is safe to say two years of experience have changed Hall.Strange as it might seem, the key in his development as a quarterbackjust may have been learning how to forget.
“I put things behind me,” Hall said. “If you’re a quarterback andyou dwell on the past, it’s a bad deal. You can’t get too high withthe highs or too low with the lows.”
In this light, quarterbacking seems to almost dharma-esque – doyour duty to the best of your ability and then step back.
Such selective absent-mindedness had allowed Hall to thrive underhead coach Tom Craft for the past two seasons, developing into a3,000-yard passer in 2002. Despite an ankle injury and sporadicineffectiveness, he remains SDSU’s most consistently productivepasser since Billy Blanton.
It has also helped him put occasional struggles this season behindhim. After a porous four-interception performance against New Mexico,Hall rebounded the following weekend by scoring one rushing and onepassing touchdown as the Aztecs topped Wyoming 25-20.
“He’s got so much poise compared to two years ago,” Webb said.”He’s just a totally different player, the way he brings the teamtogether and shows that leadership in the huddle.”
Such are the qualities one can exude when living in the present.
As one might expect, Hall puts little personal emphasis on SDSU’sgame with UNLV 12 p.m. Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium – that scene ofso much personal ugliness. He said he is prepared to come out of thetunnel in Las Vegas with a clear conscience. Forget looking forvindication or removing a monkey from his back.
He just wants to win now. History be damned.
“I thought about it before we played them last year (a 31-21 Aztecwin at Qualcomm),” Hall said. “But this is just a really importantfootball game for this university, this team and this community. Whathappened last time doesn’t matter to me at all.”
