Sun Devil QB transferring to BYU

Former Arizona State quarterback Max Hall made it official — he will transfer to play the remainder of his four-year football career at BYU and will enroll in fall 2006 as a redshirt freshman.

Hall said he was impressed with both BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall and quarterback coach Brandon Doman.

"Coach Mendenhall is straightforward and honest," Hall said. "He knows how to help players become the best they can be. He believes in them. Coach Doman is a great quarterback coach. He knows tons about the game. He can teach me a lot. I'm excited to be coached for four years by him because he knows so much about the game."

The Hall transfer, which will be recognized by the NCAA during February's letter-of-intent signing date, could be a return by BYU of a traditional quarterback plan of the '70s, '80s and '90s of grooming players at that position instead of playing freshmen. This would also enable proper evaluation of current QBs on missions like Jacob Bower and Sam Doman, who return in coming years. The Cougars have an oral commitment from Pine View High senior James Lark.

In this decade, the Cougars have played and started freshmen QBs fresh off missions including Matt Berry, Lance Pendleton and Beck. Hall could be a "bridge" quarterback to break that trend.

Hall, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound pocket passer, led Mesa Mountain View to the Arizona State 5A championship as a junior. He met with Sun Devil coach Dirk Koetter on Thursday morning to officially declare his intentions and secure a release and then visited with Doman in the afternoon, according to his father, Mark Hall.

"We're just glad to get this taken care of and behind us so everybody can go on with their recruiting and know where they stand," Mark said.

Hall attended ASU his freshman season in 2004 and worked on the scout team but sat out the 2005 season, satisfying the NCAA transfer rule for sitting out one year. Hall will attend a junior college part-time in Arizona this winter before arriving in Provo during the summer to work out.

The nephew of former Dallas Cowboy and ASU All-American quarterback Danny White, now the coach of the Utah Blaze, Hall is the grandson of former Chicago Bear and ASU All-American Wilford White.

Hall was rated as the No. 25 quarterback in the nation by SuperPrep Magazine and the No. 4 player in Arizona and preseason All-American by Super Prep before his senior season at Mountain View, the same high school where current Cougar quarterback John Beck played.