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“Don’t listen to anything this guys says.”
Hamilton Ticats’ quarterback Zach Collaros tossed that out as he passed by an on-field scrum after practice at B.C. Place. The object of his playful scorn was rookie defensive lineman Bryan Hall, who was entertaining the media yet again.
“I hate you too, Zach,” Hall called over his shoulder, before turning back to us. “I hate that guy, man.”
Bryan Hall is good at tracking quarterbacks and helping stop the run. Pretty good at prodding his teammates and throwing out quips, too.
Ticat fans and reporters already knew this. Now, the national media knows it; Bryan Hall is a hoot.
On a Hamilton team jammed with personality, Hall still stands out. He loves to engage. He loves to joke around. He loves to talk. Boy, howdy, does he love to talk. And make up words. Bryan Hall likes to make up words that will amaze and amuse.
“If you could construct one word to describe what Grey Cup Sunday will be like, what would that word be?” I ask him.
“It’s gonna be (he pauses for a good 5 seconds) ‘wowzerrific.'” Then, he repeats his newly crafted adjective with the pride of an artist.
“Wowzerrific.”
At 6’1″, 295 pounds, Hall has been like a giant Grey Cup teddy bear, contradicting the ferocious demeanor he puts on full display during games. His football abilities have been a big part of why the Ticats’ defensive line has caught fire this season. Those abilities aren’t the only ones that have been important to a club that began the season at 1 and 6, but is now playing for a championship. Hall’s jovial personality seems to be a pretty important bit of seasoning for a team that is very tight knit.
For Hall, football is about much more than going to work with teammates. He’s after more than that.
“What are you doing off the field? You know, spending time with guys. Going to do community service with guys. Coming together as brothers off the field,” he said, adding that he’s certain that kind of interaction provides for even better on-field chemistry.
Defensive tackle Ted Laurent sees the value in that as well.
“When we first started 1 and 6, we had no chemistry,” he said. “But, as the season went along, we just got gelling together. Watched film together, went out to eat together. We got close.”
NO STRANGER TO ‘BRYANESE’
Laurent gives some of that credit to Hall.
“He gets us going, he’s kind of our leader. (If it’s) early in the morning and we don’t feel like doing this and doing that, he always gets us going. I’m really thankful that he’s on our team and I really appreciate him.”
This despite Hall pulling Laurent into an interview just so he could mock the shirt his teammate was wearing. It was in that same interview that Hall provided a commentary on Kent Austin’s hair as the head coach stood nearby.
It has been that kind of week for the native of Carbondale, Illinois. He’s been lapping it up and can’t seem to get enough. When one of his scrums broke up, he turned to another reporter standing nearby and asked “you got any questions?”
Hall had 35 tackles and 4 sacks in his rookie season and added 3 more tackles in last Sunday’s Eastern Final win over Montreal. His inside presence, along with Laurent’s, helped the Ticats’ defence become the CFL’s most stingy against the run, allowing less than 80 yards per game.
With the league’s top rushing team – and in particular Jon Cornish – as their opponent on Sunday, it seems a battle royale made in heaven. Hall looks forward to the challenge, bullish on his team’s abilities and mindset heading into the Grey Cup Game.
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“If he gets the ball 20 times, we’re gonna be there 20 times for him,” he said of Cornish, before heading off a follow-up question about the 2014 Most Outstanding Canadian. “They’re a great team. They’ve got a great quarterback, they’ve got a great offensive line, their receivers are playmakers. It’s not just about Jon Cornish. We’ve got to stop everybody.”
The Ticats have looked very sharp in practices this week, something that is not lost on Hall. “We prepared great so we’re confident now,” he said. “We’re so close to greatness. We’re excited.”
Excited enough to use words like ‘wowzerrific.’
“Gonna be a lot of wows,” says Hall, as he begins his explanation for the genesis of the word. “It’s gonna be terrific. When you put that together, man, it’s gonna be just a wowzerrific type of day. We’ve got a lot of wow guys out here, with Speedy (Brandon Banks) and everybody. And you’ve got the terrific offensive and defensive lines.”
As I try to spell it out, Hall admonishes me for saying ‘zed,’ instead of ‘zee.’ I admonish him right back and inform him we are in Canada, so ‘zed’ it is.
But, he is unrelenting and immediately veers off into what he says is the history of the word ‘wowzerrific.’
“It was around long, long ago,” he instructs. “Christopher Columbus… before he even knew America was there, ‘wowzerrific’ was already in Paducah, Kentucky.”
Bryan Hall is in Vancouver. Grey Cup Week is better for it. Wowzerrific, for sure.
