When Emanuel Hall splits out wide in Missouri’s offensive formation and sees a single defensive back line up opposite him, he gets upset. He’s excited, too — any time Hall finds himself in a one-on-one matchup, he believes he’s going to wind up with the ball in his hands. But make no mistake, Hall interprets single coverage as a sign that the opposing team believes its defensive back can cover him on his own, and that’s insulting. He uses that as extra motivation to make sure he wins the matchup and gets open.
“If you’re lined up against me, that’s you saying to me that you can take me one-on-one,” Hall said. “If you’re going to take me one-on-one, then I’m going to win that.”
So far this season, Hall has seen a lot of single coverage. He usually makes the defense pay for the insult.
Hall has stepped seamlessly into the role of the Tigers’ top wideout in his senior campaign. Through two games, Hall has hauled in 14 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns — on just 17 targets. His average of 171 yards per game ranks second nationally. During the team’s Week Two game against Wyoming, Hall, previously known as just a deep threat, showed his versatility, hauling in a career-high 10 receptions.
Even before that breakout performance, head coach Barry Odom said that no Missouri player took “more positive steps in developing as a total player” during the offseason than Hall. Much like his desire to make defenses pay for single-covering him, Hall said his offseason work was fueled by a desire to disprove those who previously pigeonholed him as a vertical threat.
“The myth of ‘I can’t run routes’ is kind of gone,” Hall said after the Wyoming game. “Because I can. And I’m glad that this game they showed something different so we could show those plays.”
Though his words may read like it, Hall doesn’t come across as cocky or brash. His voice is soft when speaking to reporters, and he offers an almost sheepish grin when admitting he took joy in proving that he could, for instance, run a slant route. The mindset of taking fuel from slights, both real and perceived, is simply how Hall has always approached competition. Brian Rector, his coach at Centennial high school in Franklin, Tenn., said that when Hall would draw single coverage in high school he would “froth at the mouth.”
Due to his production at Centennial, Hall rarely drew single-coverage during his final two high school seasons. One exception came when Centennial played Overton, which featured cornerback Ugochukwu Amadi, now a safety at Oregon. Overton matched Amadi against Hall in single coverage. Hall scored two touchdowns.
“I won’t forget it,” Rector said. “I think that sent a really good signal to people around here that, hey, you cannot cover this guy one-on-one, and especially in press (coverage).”
Rector, now in his 23rd year of coaching, called Hall the most explosive high school player he’s ever coached, and Hall received scholarship offers from several Power Five schools, including five in the SEC. But Hall still saw himself as undervalued. He said he chose Missouri in part because he sensed the program, then coming off its second consecutive SEC East title, was like him: underrated and hungry to prove it belonged.
“This school, a lot of people just don’t respect it for whatever reason,” Hall explained. “We’ve gone to two SEC championships not too long ago, it’s one of those things, I think everybody on this team kind of comes off with a chip on their shoulder. I want to go show everybody that we have talent here.”
Hall saw minimal playing time as a true freshman in 2015, catching just eight passes on the season. The following year, Josh Heupel took over as offensive coordinator and implemented his simplistic, fast-paced spread scheme. Rather than asking Hall to develop a variety of routes, Heupel asked Hall to focus almost entirely on the thing he did best: running deep.
Even in his niche role, Hall struggled to crack the regular rotation as a sophomore. Hall described himself as immature as an underclassman, and that kept him from climbing the depth chart. A season ago, when Missouri played Purdue, Hall played just one snap. He injured his shoulder on the play, then went catchless the following week as well.
It wasn’t until Missouri’s bye week between the fourth and fifth games of last season, when fellow wide receiver Dimetrious Mason was dismissed from the team, that Hall finally worked his way into a starting spot. It didn’t take him long to make his presence felt. Hall caught four passes for 129 yards and a touchdown against Kentucky the following week. The next game, he torched the vaunted Georgia defense for 142 yards and two scores. All told, Hall racked up 713 yards and eight touchdowns during the final seven games of the regular season.
Looking back, Hall said he’s actually glad he experienced some struggles before getting the opportunity to start.
“I don’t think I would have that same mindset,” he explained, “going out and just being super, super driven.”
At some point during Hall’s 10-catch performance on Saturday, Hall entered what he calls Mamba Mode. Mamba Mode, an homage to former NBA player Kobe Bryant, is a term coined by Hall and fellow senior wideout Nate Brown. It describes the sensation of getting into a rhythm and feeling like no matter what the coverage or the play call, “you’re just open all the time.”
Hall has effectively been in Mamba Mode since the season began. Wide receivers coach A.J. Ofodile said that, just like it takes a few catches for Hall to get into Mamba Mode, he had to experience success last season in order to work his way to his current level of production.
“He started off the season slow last year, and then was probably as hot as any receiver in the country coming down the stretch,” Ofodile said. “I think you get a taste of that success, and to his credit, you can go one of two ways. You can say, ‘Ok, I’ve arrived and I don’t have to do much.’ Or you can say, ‘Here’s where I am and it felt pretty good, how good would it feel if I get even better?’ I think he took that approach.”
Of course, just because Hall is currently cruising in Mamba Mode doesn’t mean he’s content. There are still doubters to be proved wrong.
At the end of last season, Hall submitted his name to the College Advisory Committee, which advises players with remaining college eligibility where they’re likely to be selected should they declare for the draft. He summed up his feedback by saying “they don’t know much about me.”
“They were like, I can run a (go) route, but that’s about it,” Hall said of his feedback. “And they also said my hands are inconsistent, which I think is bull, because I’ve been sitting there catching every day at practice.”
While Hall certainly took a step toward proving he can master the entire route tree against Wyoming, he knows it will take more than one good game to convince NFL scouts of his ability. And even if he continues his torrid start to the season and begins hearing his name pop up in mock drafts, there will always be more people to prove wrong. That’s the beauty of Hall’s mindset: Whether it’s a media member or an opposing defensive back, there’s always someone, in his mind, selling him short. He makes correcting that individual personal.
“I’m going out here every single time to prove someone wrong,” Hall said. “That’s the approach I take, whether it’s the people I’m competing with on this team or the person I’m competing against lined up one-on-one against me.
“Every single person, it’s kind of a personal thing. I think that approach has helped me out a lot.”
