Mizzou's Terez Hall is making a name for himself on the Patriots

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Former Missouri linebacker Terez Hall was a vocal leader for the Mizzou defense for several years and he recorded 178 combined tackles over his career as a Tiger along with 24 tackles for a loss, an interception, and 6 sacks. Many would say Hall was the best Mizzou linebacker during the Odom Era although Nick Bolton developed very well during the last year of Odom's tenure. Regardless, Hall was the signal-caller of the defense for a long time and those leadership skills along with his sheer talent helped Hall land a job in the NFL.

It wasn't exactly a normal path landing a job in the NFL for Hall, though. Hall didn't get drafted by a team. He ended up signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent. Hall didn't play at all in 2019 outside of some special teams after signing with the Patriots and struggled to set himself apart from the practice squad. However, the Patriots had a crowded linebacker group with the likes of Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, and Dont'a Hightower all being ahead of him on the depth chart but at the end of the 2019 season, the Patriots signed Hall to a "Reserve/Future" contract that would ensure Hall would have a spot on the roster at the start of the 2020 league year meaning New England liked what they saw from him in practice and decided to invest.

Well, in the 2020 offseason, the Patriots lost linebackers Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy to free agency, and Dont'a Hightower to opting-out of the offseason meaning Hall would have a chance to crack the rotation. After some more attrition at the linebacker spot, the Patriots finally decided to elevate Terez Hall on November 9th prior to the Jets game on Monday Night Football meaning Hall would be making his NFL debut on primetime. Hall did not disappoint as he recorded 6 tackles in a 30-27 win over New York and looked spry doing so.

Hall has continued to look good next to former Michigan star Josh Uche on defense and has appeared in five more games including matchups against the Ravens, Texans, Cardinals, Chargers, and Dolphins. In those games, Hall has recorded 30 total tackles and 2 passes defended.

Hall hasn't just been productive, he's been a great teammate and even admitted the Patriots were his favorite team growing up. According to 985TheSportsHub.com, Hall told reporters "When I grew up, this was my favorite team". and during the pre-draft process he said that he thought to himself "I looked at all the coaches - I know everyone on the coaching staff, I knew them when they were players, I knew coach Bill - I watched the whole reign, all the Super Bowls". It's very rarely a player ever plays for their favorite team but it's also even less likely a player makes their favorite team as an undrafted free agent but Hall is doing both.

So it appears the Patriots and Hall have had a good feeling for each other and Hall has found a niche with the Patriots and should only expand his role going forward. It will be interesting to see how Hall develops going forward, but for now Missouri fans (and Patriots fans) have a good storyline to follow when flipping through NFL games on Sundays.