A Prince No More, the Sad Tale of Former Alabama Player Prince Hall

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fla.) Prince Hall watches another West Coast sunset and wonders if his light will ever rise again.

He just finished the spring/summer season in Yakima, Washington, a spot on the map in the center of Washington, and it seems like a million miles from the places Prince Hall was supposed to be. He has signed up to play for the Yakima Valley Warriors of the American Indoor Football Association.

There he will suit up with ex-high school and college players that never saw the big time.

This is not the life Hall saw for himself at this stage of his life. Some players in the league make $200 a game with a $50 dollar bonus for a win; others may make $25,000.

That's what a stocker at Food World makes these days.

He was the inside linebacker at the University of Alabama. The big dog freshman who came in and wowed the SEC with his play at such a young age. Yes, Hall had all the markings of a thoroughbred at linebacker and was destined to go down as one of the all-time great ones.

Hall was the guy who was so good that he started nine games as a freshman and earned freshman All-American honors as well as lots of other kudos. He was pegged to be a four-year star and then a certain NFL first-round pick.

He had a sensational second year, again earning more honors. His third year was to put him on the fast track to the All-SEC Team and All-American tour, as well as a draft choice that was at one time thought to be a sure first-round pick.

Then came trouble. I won't go into the rules he broke, but let's call it bad behavior. You don't get to be star on Nick Saban's team and break the rules. Despite the team's bad first season—by Saban standards—and a shortage of talent at linebacker, Hall was benched.

His time in the doghouse showed him there was no forgiveness from Saban. This was his second time in the doghouse, so he left.

When he was suspended from the team, the job went to Rolando McClain and Rolando just turned playing that position into a possible $40 million dollar contract with the Oakland Raiders.

But Hall moved back to the West Coast and simply wanted to play so he enrolled at a Division II school, Central Washington. There he continued to make the big plays.

But his 86 tackles, 14 of them for a loss, did not get him noticed by NFL scouts. At least not enough to get a call or a lot of encouragement, though some did at least speak to him.

And though all the talent was still there, it was strictly a case of out of sight, out of mind as far as the NFL went.

So now he'll play to smaller crowds than he did in high school back in California. With the limited number of players, he'll also do a little running back duty as well. He recently showed he could do this well in a game against Wyoming, in which he had two touchdowns.

And though he still harbours the dream of playing in the big time, few make it from Yakima to the NFL.

"All I can do is try and prove myself and show what I'm about," Hall said prior to the NFL draft. Following that, he signed with Yakima hoping to show what he's got there and get noticed.

"I feel like for the most part, I made good decisions," Hall said. "But the few bad decisions I made, I paid for them. All the bad decisions got added onto my resume."

Few teams wanted to take a chance on a guy with some bad baggage.

Hall claims all the bad baggage had good and bad consequences for him. The bad we don't need to hash over, but the good was that it finally gave him the focus to keep his eyes on what was important. In other words, to finally take Nick Saban's message to heart.

Saban's message was to set goals, work harder than your competition to achieve them, and make the right decisions.

"I never once heard Prince talk about Alabama, how he liked them better, how they traveled better, anything," said Central Washington defensive coordinator Joe Lorig. "He's never given me the attitude that he felt like he needed a second chance." *

He quietly returned to Alabama during Alabama's Pro Day, where scouts are invited to assess Alabama talent. But he was recovering from a knee injury and only ran a 4.95 in the 40, which dazzled no one, and only did 12 reps on the bench press.

Spending his last years on Alabama's team would have certainly helped both numbers as well as riding the national championship wave right into the NFL.

Instead he rode the bus into Yakima.

With the season over in Yakima, Hall can only hope to get a call from a team needing his help. He has an agent, Windy Millicent of Top Notch Sports, who believes he can still make it.

"Prince left the past behind and has learned from his mistakes," Millicent said. "If he didn't have the character issues at Alabama, he would have been right up there."

"He needs that second chance. If he messes up that second chance, there is nothing we can do. Prince knows this is his last chance to get to the next level. If he gets a chance, he will make a name for himself," Windy finished.

When players are considering choices that they make, this is a story they should reflect upon and take to heart.

All choices have benefits and consequences. Hall now reflects that the benefits from his bad behavior were millions of times less gratifying than the consequences he paid for them.

But just like you can't unfire a gun, you can't take back your mistakes.

Prince Hall has learned that, although he may have learned it just a little too late.

* Quote from the PressEnterprise www.pe.com