Gurvan Hall of part of the vaunted 2018 Miami football recruiting class. Hall is the only safety as part of a stellar group in the secondary among the incoming Freshmen for 2018.
Hall is one of five Freshmen The defensive backs that the Miami football team adds for 2018. The other four incoming Freshmen in the secondary are cornerbacks.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings Hall is rated as a four-star safety. He is the nation’s 184th best player, 15th best safety and 32nd best player in Florida. Three of the Hurricanes other four Freshmen signees in the secondary are also four-star players.
Al Blades Jr, Gilbert Frierson and D.J. Ivey are four-star cornerbacks. Nigel Bethel is a three-star corner.
There will be a lot of competition this fall for playing time. The Miami football team is set at safety. Both starting safeties return for the Hurricanes. Senior Jaquan Johnson will challenge to earn a spot on the All-American team. Johnson is joined by his former high school teammate Sheldrick Redwine.
Hall is listed as the third-string strong safety behind Redwine and Robert Knowles. Johnson will be backed up by Sophomore Amari Carter.
Depth chart on the first day of fall camp for @CanesFootball: pic.twitter.com/r7sKwULn68
— Josh White (@_JoshRWhite) August 4, 2018
Earlier this summer the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson spoke to each of the Miami Defensive Position Assistant Coaches about their players. The Hurricanes Safeties Coach is Ephraim Banda.
Hall was only able to play the first third of Spring Practice because of an injury. He was ready when fall training camp began on Saturday.
"“(Hall) is full go…He has gone through summer workouts. He has a skill set that is what you expect to be at Miami. He is fast and physical and has great intuition, can diagnose the play, can power through plays and power through blocks.The biggest thing I saw in the first four or five practices is he knows football, but he understands the concepts. You would think all of them do but that’s not true. Jaquan has that.”"
If Hall can turn out to be as good as Johnson is the Hurricanes will be blessed. Johnson became a full-time starter last season after starting five games as a Sophomore in 2016.
This will likely become a year of apprenticeship for Hall. He is not likely to start unless Johnson and then potentially Knowles suffers an injury. Hall will likely see meaningful time on special teams this fall.
According to Redwine, Hall has shown toughness thus during the early stages of training camp. Toughness is an important attribute for a strong safety. Strong safeties are expected to help out frequently against the run.
"“He’s showing great range, has great football speed, is aggressive. That’s a big thing coach Diaz tells young guys, is you have to prove your toughness to the team. He’s been coming out, striking, making plays on the ball. He’s impressed me.”"
Hall has a bright future with the Miami football program. He has a chance to succeed Johnson and be mentioned as the next great Hurricanes safety. Hall should be able to pass Knowles on the depth chart at least by at last the beginning of 2019 if not sooner.
He will likely have to battle Carter and potentially Derrick Smith and Romeo Finley who are currently listed as the backups to Zach McCloud at strongside linebacker/striker. It remains to be seen how the striker position that is new to the Miami football team will work out. It may or may not still be around in 2019.