2024-08-19 09:00:03
LAS VEGAS — There’s a solid chance you didn’t plan on being thumped on the forehead by kismet while watching what Kemon Hall was able to do for the Dallas Cowboys against the Las Vegas Raiders, by way of a pick-six, but that’s exactly what happened.
If you’re wondering what that is referencing, settle in for the explanation to come.
But, first, Hall’s reaction to the highlight of the day: a 69-yard interception return against quarterback Aidan O’Connell atop the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.
“It felt great, just being in the right place at the right time, reading my keys and the quarterback taking me the ball,” said the 27-year-old cornerback. “That feeling of going down the field, it’s like you’re in a tunnel, man. It took me back to college, because I hadn’t had a pick-six since college.”
Ah, a perfect segue by Hall to the promised explanation.
Do you know who knew about Hall far before the entirety of Cowboys’ fans were formally introduced to him on Saturday evening? Owner and general manager Jerry Jones, that’s who, and for one very good reason that predates Hall’s time in the NFL by roughly one year.
You see, the last time Hall had a pick-six in a football game was on Sept. 15, 2018.
That’s when Hall, playing for the University of North Texas, took on Arkansas and quarterback John Stephen Jones, a Texas high school state football champion, son of executive vice president and director of player personnel Stephen Jones and grandson of Jerry Jones; and helped to lead Mean Green to a blowout victory that included a 24-yard pick six to take home the bacon against the hogs.
Claimed by the Cowboys off of the waiver wire early in camp following his release from the San Francisco 49ers, Hall is torn between playfully mentioning that pick-six to John Stephen Jones — who is employed by the Cowboys and present in Oxnard — or the elder Joneses responsible for adding him to Dallas’ roster this summer.
He prefers to take the angle of self-preservation ahead of roster cuts.
“Not yet,” said Hall when asked if he’d brought up that fateful play to any of the Joneses. “I saw Jerry after practice but I was like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna hold back. I’m gonna hold back.'”
Then again, it’s possible that play is why Hall is here in the first place — the Joneses remembering what Hall is capable of and wanting to put him under the mentorship of Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland; and the coaching of Mike Zimmer and Al Harris.
“Yeah, maybe,” Hall said, with a grin and a nervous laugh.
It’s been quite the journey for Hall thus far in the NFL.
He’s gone from enjoying the highs of his days at UNT to being an undrafted free agent of the Los Angeles Chargers (2019), waived and then signed by the Minnesota Vikings (2019), waived and then signed by the New Orleans Saints (2020), waived and then signed by the Cowboys (2020), and subsequently waived and then signed once again by the Chargers (2021) — where he was awarded live game action for the first time in the NFL.
After playing in 18 games for the Chargers, the bulk of his work being on special teams (334 total) with minimal defensive reps (21 total) sent his way, Hall was waived by the Chargers and signed by the 49ers (2023) before joining the Cowboys, again, this past July.
With a journey like that, no one understands better than Hall that every single rep matters.
“I’ve worked so hard to stay in the mix,” he said of his NFL career. “And every opportunity that’s come around, I try my best to capitalize on it, and I’m grateful for that.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity right now. The [pick-six versus the Raiders is] everything. I really wanna be on the 53-man roster — being productive on the squad. I worked so hard in the offseason to stay in the mix. Even though things might not go my way, I got released, but God had something bigger for me.
“I just stayed ready, and when the opportunity comes, I try to capitalize.”
His success in Las Vegas was not a coincidence, film readily proving Hall’s nose for the ball both in the two preseason outings and in practice, where he had a multiple interception day in Oxnard on Aug. 6, grabbing one against Cooper Rush and the other against Trey Lance.
When he isn’t intercepting the ball, he’s in the vicinity just narrowly missing out on one; and that’s a testament to both his work ethic and, as noted, the teachings of a coach like Al Harris.
“Al always preaches about the ball,” Hall said of the Cowboys’ assistant head coach and defensive backs coach. “He said if you’re not touching the ball, you’re not doing something right. That’s what he harps on everyday. Once you get that mindset about the ball, you’re gonna try to find it.
“It’s just like second nature.”
And it’s clearly exactly that, second nature, for Bland and Diggs as well — Hall in awe of what they’re able to do on a football field and, as such, is a sponge soaking up as much of their aura and football IQ as he possibly can seeing as, at no point in his arduous journey, has he ever been in a room and on a roster with a record-setting cornerback … let alone two of them at the same time.
For Hall, this is a chance to inhale greatness with the hopes of exhaling some of his own in 2024 and beyond.
“Watching them operate everyday, their knack for the ball, I just ask them questions like, ‘How’d you read that so fast?'” said Hall. “They give you the game piece by piece and you just try to put it in yours and make plays.”
If what happened in Vegas is any indication, he’s been taking notes. It’s now on to the preseason finale against, guess who, the Los Angeles Chargers with a chance at showing them they made a mistake, twice, in letting him go and that the Cowboys made the right decision in bringing him back this summer.
It’s kismet at its most cosmic level.
So, folks, how’s your forehead?
