Quick rise, photo finish: How Dae’vonn Hall’s winding road led to Nebraska

Dae’Vonn Hall didn’t want to go. So he didn’t bring all of his gear.
The rising eighth grader had little interest in a July youth football camp at Bellevue West in the summer of 2019. Everybody there would be a stranger to him. And while most kids his age had been tackling for years, he had only ever played flag.
Yet there the receiver was, going through drills with a group of future Thunderbirds run by one of the most successful programs in the state. And he needed to borrow some cleats and gloves.
The guy who volunteered the loaners was Zavier Betts, the T-Birds’ star wideout already on a path to college that Hall had only dreamed of following. Hall laced up unfamiliar shoes and ran his first-ever clocked 40-yard dash in a handheld time of 4.6 seconds.
Coaches thought they made a mistake, so they instructed Hall to go again. Same result.
“I’m like, ‘Who are you?’” said Bellevue West coach Michael Huffman, who had been called over to watch. “‘And how do I not know who you are?’”
As national prospects go, Hall’s humble introduction was more out of nowhere than most. He was still being homeschooled in eighth grade when he made his first big impression with Bellevue West’s feeder team that fall. He celebrated his first Power Five scholarship offer a year later, not long after he realized his goal of making the T-Birds’ freshman team wasn’t nearly grand enough.
Husker fan
Dae’Vonn Hall grew up a Nebraska fan as part of a Husker family that has regularly hosted watch parties in Plattsmouth.
HALL FAMILY
Now Hall is months away from heading to Nebraska. The school has always been front of mind for someone who grew up wearing Husker shirts at the countless watch parties his family hosted. Yet, there was reasonable doubt he’d end up in Lincoln all the way to a key SEC offer that came days — or even hours — too late.
“I knew it was going to work out,” Hall said. “Nobody else knew that it was but deep down I was like, ‘Bro, this is going to work out right and just fine.’ It worked out just fine.”
Such an outcome didn’t seem likely days before his commitment when Husker coaches got his attention with a blunt message: They were no longer actively recruiting him.
Finding his way
Before Hall was making swings through the South to star at SEC football camps, he was all the buzz in regional homeschool basketball circles.
At least for a while. By late elementary school, coaches decided Hall needed the challenge of playing above his age level. So for the next few years, he held his own with older kids, always wondering how good he actually was.
The same unknown went for other sports. He tried the high jump for the first time at a homeschool track event in Wahoo at age 11 — after five minutes of at-the-meet instruction, he cleared 5 feet, 8 inches. He didn’t know what a sprinter stance was until eighth grade and spent his earliest years running with his feet hitting his bottom. He knew he could keep his flags away from others in football, but how physical was he?
Adoption
The Hall family on adoption day for Dae’Vonn in May 2008. Pictured left to right: Tammy, William, Zachary, Judge Elizabeth Crnkovich, Brittany, Dae’Vonn, Rick and Andrew.
HALL FAMILY
Hall has lived most of his life in Plattsmouth as the adopted son of his parents, Rick and Tammy. Dae’Vonn first stayed with the foster family for about six months until he was 1 year old before his biological mother took him back for a short time.
“You would have thought someone died at our house,” Tammy said.
But another situation arose, and soon the arrangement became permanent. They made the adoption official in May 2008 — Dae’Vonn’s little brother, Shaun, would join soon after with the Halls and their four older children.
Hall’s life centered around sports, whether watching his siblings or playing himself. School days were generally 9 a.m. to noon and took place a few feet from his bedroom.
“I never really liked being homeschooled, just being real,” Hall said. “I told my parents a lot that I wanted to go to school. But it let me focus without distractions.”
Culture shock hit — longer days, big classrooms — for his freshman year when he enrolled at Bellevue West. Rick, a former T-Bird, wanted his son to attend his alma mater. Hall quickly felt at home on the football field, catching a 63-yard touchdown pass against Bellevue East in the 2020 opener.
Four days later, Huffman found Hall at lunch and said he had a phone call. When the teen returned a few minutes later, his table of 14-year-old friends swarmed him. What was that about?
Hall, still in a daze, paused for a few dramatic seconds before giving an answer that sounded like a fantasy.
“Bro,” he said. “Iowa just offered me.”
Nebraska for the win
The farther away a college is, the less truthful it tends to be in the recruiting process.
Hall 1
Culture shock hit Dae'Vonn Hall when enrolled at Bellevue West his freshman year. But he quickly felt at home on the football field, catching a 63-yard touchdown pass against Bellevue East in the 2020 opener.
ANNA REED, THE WORLD-HERALD
The lesson is one Huffman has learned in a decade at Bellevue West, which has produced a parade of Division I football talent and won a pair of Class A titles during that span. That reality played out with Hall.
Sometimes it was smaller stuff, like multiple SEC coaches telling the wideout they would travel out to see him during the spring evaluation period and not follow through. One odder trip Hall took as a sophomore to an SEC school came on a game night when coaches pulled him into their offices. With the lights off and a window open, he saw only staffer silhouettes when they offered him a spot on the team.
“That will forever be in my mind as ridiculous,” Tammy Hall said.
Dae’Vonn camped at another prominent league program this summer and performed well. “Wouldn’t you like to come here?” the position coach asked him. “Wouldn’t you like a picture?” Sure, Hall responded politely.
Staffers later asked Hall why he didn’t post the offer on social media. The receiver — and another player who was part of the conversation — didn’t know there was one. He still isn’t sure.
Nebraska was the early favorite after it tendered in December 2020 in a moment that caused the 15-year-old Hall to forget the rest of his interrupted lunch. But Hall also liked the recruiting process. He liked the challenge of earning offers.
Hall 2
As national prospects go, Dae’vonn Hall’s humble introduction was more out of nowhere than most.
Omaha World-Herald file photo
“I seriously took it like it was a game,” Hall said. “Gotta get ‘em all.”
The Huskers were persistent — maybe overly so early on under coach Matt Rhule, Hall said. The staff reached out right away and always responded promptly. NU coaches would call while at dinner and pass the phone around on FaceTime to check in. It felt like a bit much to Hall after a couple of chats.
Said Hall: “It’s rude, but I didn’t answer sometimes.”
By the spring, Hall stopped talking to Nebraska. If he really wanted to go there, he figured, he would know. Tennessee, meanwhile, began moving up his list and he camped there in early June.
Husker assistant coach Evan Cooper checked in around then asking if Hall was in or out because NU had other targets waiting. Hall wasn’t ready to decide. A few days later Cooper called back — the school’s offer was still good, but NU was done pursuing him.
Hall’s initial reaction was relief — his parents’ and Huffman’s was not. Finally, some space, he thought. Some room to breathe.
Tennessee remained a top contender, but the Vols still hadn’t gotten back to him in the weeks after his workout. He suddenly knew his childhood team was the play. He woke up on a Monday morning with a text from UT to call but first told Nebraska coaches he was ‘N.’
The SEC school extended a spot that night.
“I’m not going to lie: If Tennessee had offered me maybe a week earlier, I probably would have committed to Tennessee,” Hall said. “But that’s a what-if. All these schools have tried to get me to switch since then, but it’s Nebraska over here.”
Smiling and at peace
Hall turned 18 in April. In his mind, he should already be a college student.
Hall 3
For Dae'Vonn Hall, the next few months will be about Bellevue West and finishing strong with his team that includes fellow future Huskers in quarterback Daniel Kaelin and receiver Isaiah McMorris.
Omaha World-Herald file photo
But the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder has made peace with his path. The next few months will be about Bellevue West and finishing strong with his team that includes fellow future Huskers in quarterback Daniel Kaelin and receiver Isaiah McMorris. Then he’ll be on campus at Nebraska in January ready to roll.
Huffman’s already seen more smiles from Hall — he’s happy again, the coach said, after two stressful years. That McMorris and Hall announced their Husker commits together last month was a great sign too. These days they’re feeding off of each other rather than competing against each other.
Long behind older future DI players, Hall broke out as a junior for 62 catches for 974 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games. He has a reputation as a speed burner, but his best strength might be rock-solid hands and a physicality that helps him tilt 50-50 balls into 90-10 propositions. And he’s even better in pads.
Hall will also see more action on defense this fall, splitting cornerback duties with McMorris.
“I hope this summer is an indicator of what’s about to happen because it’s been unreal,” Huffman said. “And there ain’t an ounce of fat on him — it’s all just muscle and length.”
The coach said Hall is thicker now than Betts was in high school, back when Betts lent his cleats to a future Husker teammate. Both are easy to root for. Both are unlikely in-state success stories for a Nebraska team chasing its own redemption.
Hall is lacing up his shoes. He’s been late to get going before.
He always catches up.
“Once he puts his mind to something, he can do it,” Huffman said. “I’m pumped to see what he can do.”