Chad Hall
The Philadelphia Eagles have signed Air Force 2nd Lt. Chad Hall to their 53-man roster, according to a report on the team’s website. He is expected to be active for the Eagles’ game with San Francisco, which will mark his regular-season NFL debut.
The signing makes Hall, a 2008 graduate of the Air Force Academy, the first service academy grad to make a team’s active roster this season (Army grad Caleb Campbell is on Detroit’s practice squad). Hall has been on the Eagles practice squad since getting cut by the Eagles at the end of the preseason, and has reportedly shown continued progress working as a wide receiver.
An injury to backup wideout Riley Cooper left Philly with only three healthy players at the postion, necessitating the signing of Hall. The report on the Eagles website indicated Hall may get a chance to return punts, but it’s unclear how else he will fit into the team’s offensive plans.
Hall hinted at his possible activation earlier this week on Twitter, saying he was traveling with the team to San Fran. However Hall left out crucial details about what traveling with the team entailed — specifically, his duty to provide the veterans with fast food. The Eagles website reported that Hall “arrived on the team plane Friday afternoon with his hands full of Popeyes chicken for the rest of the receivers, a rite of passage for young players on the Eagles.” As far as rookie hazing goes, that’s not too bad — unless Hall was not able to enjoy the delicious Cajun goodness himself.
The Eagles are coming off a loss to the Washington Redskins last week, and will be without quaterback Michael Vick, who injured his ribs and chest against the Redskins — much to the delight of many sports fans and dog lovers:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5NBODgR4s[/youtube]
No Comments
Can somebody fill me in on why the taxpayers spent over $300,000 on this kid’s education at the Air Force Academy, only to have him go play in the NFL? I would hope at the very least he be discharged, lose his eligibility for veterans benefits, pay back his tuition, room/board, pay etc for his 4 years at the academy, and write a letter of apology to the kid who DIDN’T get in the academy because of him, who might’ve gone on to, I dunno, actually SERVE his country!
The argument against service academy personnel playing professional sports is just outright nonsense. Why not have these people pay back their service in another capacity as role models to the millions of kids that watch pro sports. The advertising and recruitment that NFL academy grads could offer would far outweigh the money they (we) pay back with 5 years of service. Service academy football players are the toughest and hardest working UNDERSIZED football players in the NCAA. The NFL could use some positive role models like the ones rolling out of our academies.