*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 third installment, Hall reflects on the Family Night scrimmage, discusses the snaps he's taken with the No. 1 offense, and looks forward to Saturday's preseason opener in Pittsburgh.*
Family Night was definitely a new experience for me. I've never been in a scrimmage game where there were 60-some thousand people watching, so that part of it was pretty neat, just walking out of the tunnel and having everybody cheering for you and stuff. That was real exciting for me. And the fact that it was on national TV, my parents and friends and family back home got to watch it. So that was pretty cool.
Overall, it went pretty well. There were a couple plays that I wish I had back and I'd like to correct some things, but for the most part I didn't have any missed assignments or anything like that. So it went decent.
Coming out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field is definitely an exciting feeling, because that's kind of been my goal -- not my whole life, but my last couple years in college -- to play in the NFL. It's getting real close to the point where I've almost reached that goal, and every time I think about it, it kind of motivates me even more. An experience like that really fires you up, getting to walk out of the tunnel, to know how close you are.
I've been getting some reps with the No. 1 offense this week, and there's not a big difference compared to the second team. Sometimes on the second team, you go against the No. 1 defense, and you end up getting a tougher look maybe. But the tempo is a little picked up when Brett is in there calling the plays and stuff. Just the fact that you're in the huddle with him, you pay attention and make sure you don't screw anything up. At least that's how I feel. I'm just trying to do my job in there and go with the flow.
I think just understanding what we're trying to get done on offense and what they expect out of me and want out of me, I think I've improved a lot there. Just knowing on certain blocks they want me to do it a certain way, like trying to get underneath a guy. Understanding that part of the game I've really progressed a lot. I feel with each install I have a pretty good grasp of what's going on there, but it's a matter of perfecting my technique every day and trying to get better there.
{sportsad300}Even today, we were working on my stance. 'EB' wanted me to take a bigger open step out of my stance. That's something where you get in the habit of doing something and then you have to totally change it. That's the stuff you're thinking about out there. Each day, it's not like you go out there for just a walk-through. You still are focused and thinking about what you need to work on, and the things you can do better.
I'm excited for Saturday night's game in Pittsburgh, and hopefully I'll get some good reps out there. This is the point where you have a chance to separate yourself, based on how you perform in a game situation. A scrimmage is one thing they want you to do well there, but in a game situation it can go both ways, and that's definitely something I want to be prepared for.
I don't think I'm going to have a problem getting excited to go play the Pittsburgh Steelers. But for me it will be a matter of being able to focus my energy and understand what's going on and not get over-hyped and lose my train of thought. I want to go in and be able to say afterwards that I didn't have any missed assignments, first off, and I used my technique and did my job.
