Utah State football: Aggies finally bump Hall to safety

Two years ago, Utah State football coach Brent Guy wouldn't have entertained the idea of moving De'von Hall from linebacker to safety. It would have been robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Now, Guy can make personnel moves on the defensive side of the ball because the Aggies have depth for the first time since he took over the program in 2005.

And he's going to use it to his advantage.

"(Hall) is really good at covering ground and creating angles. I think it's going to help us tremendously," Guy said. "Besides that he has a lot of knowledge of our defense and schemes and will make sure and help us to get into the right coverage all the time when people start moving around on us."

Hall, who played his first three years at linebacker is now at safety and because of that move, Roy Hurst has been moved from safety to cornerback.

"We have real good depth and competition for two positions and that's what we've been wanting to create for a long time," Guy said.

Hall was fifth on the team in tackles with 69, and now he is competing for a starting job at safety with James Brindley and Caleb Taylor, who had 84 and 81 tackles, respectively.

"De'von has played linebacker since he was a 17-year-old freshman and we've always felt like he was one of the more athletic guys and he can really run and cover space and ground," Guy said. "With the addition of Deshon Benton to the linebacker corps we felt like that was a position move we could make to give us some more depth and create competition."

Hall (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) has 15 career starts at linebacker, but his durability has been somewhat in question because of the rigors of the position. Guy believes the position change will alleviate that problem.

"We have always said we would beat him down," Guy said. "Now he is in a position now where he doesn't have to take on offensive linemen near as much. He will be tackling more receivers and running backs in open space, and not having to play off as many blocks. Physically, it will help him a lot."

Guy also thinks Hall's move to safety will take better advantage of his athleticism and height.

"He's a tall, lanky guy with long arms and those are the guys that can go up when balls are in the air and when it's a jump-ball situation he's a guy, I think, that can go and get those balls. Also, he can cover the field sideline to sideline."