*Rookie sixth-round draft choice Korey Hall is going through his first NFL training camp, and Packers.com will chronicle his thoughts and experiences throughout the next several weeks in this training camp diary.
Hall was a linebacker at Boise State but is being converted to fullback by the Packers. He's also being looked at as a potential regular on all the special teams units, where he excelled as a college player.
In this first installment, Hall discusses how training camp practices are different from the spring workouts, and how he's doing with his new position.*
I knew it was going to be a big step up coming into training camp, but it's turned out to be an even bigger change. When I was here before in the mini-camps and OTAs, that was definitely a step up. And then you mentally prepare yourself for what it's going to be like coming in here -- how tough and how hard they're going to hit, and how much studying you're going to have to do -- and then when you finally get here, it's even more of a challenge than you expected.
For me, I felt like I was pretty well mentally prepared from OTAs to now, and it was still even kind of a shock coming in -- like holy cow, these guys hit hard, and the playbook is big. All that stuff kind of wears on you, but it's only two days so far. My body is sore, but I feel like the installs are coming and I'm starting to understand the playbook, so that's one of the positive things I'm taking from it.
The transition from linebacker to fullback is tough, but it's coming around. There's times when I'll make a play and be like, yeah, I'm a fullback. But then there's other times when I'm kind of lost out there, and I have no idea how to do this play or what the footwork is on it. But I'm starting to get the hang of it. Every day I'm getting more and more comfortable with the position.
My roommate at St. Norbert is Mason Crosby, so he's not really going through the same struggles I am. As a kicker, he doesn't have to memorize the playbook or have to go out and hit people. He's really not sore or anything when we come back to the dorm. But it's not like we're able to hang out. I usually look over my playbook, the install for the next day, and go to sleep. When you're at the dorm, you're either eating or sleeping. You don't do much socializing.
I think the biggest amazement from the first two days is just the speed people are going out there. Practice here is like playing a game in college. It's just the level people play at. People can run around full speed and hit each other and not fall down. Looking back, that's what's been the shocker for me so far.
And then you have all the fans. Some college teams don't even have this many people at the games, let alone practice. That's something you definitely have to get used to. Everybody is watching every move you make, taking pictures, the whole thing. You have to keep your composure the whole time you're out there.
