A former track man, Rannell Hall distinguished himself at wide receiver with really nice straight line speed and toughness over the middle. He didn’t really separate himself from the competition at receiver until the Senior Bowl, when Rannell was able to showcase his talents. While Hall doesn’t stand out in particular size or hands wise, he made up for it in intangibles such as potential and willingness.
As one of Blake Bortles targets, Hall had respectable outings for the Knights. His best season came in 2013 with 57 receptions for 886 yards and 5 touchdowns. Hall is also willing special teams contributor, averaging 25 yards in 82 returns.
Ranell stayed close to home signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the draft. He later was signed to a futures contract with the Cleveland Browns and as of the date of this post had suited up for 1 game.
Akeem King converted from wide receiver to safety in 2011 for the San Jose State Spartans. At 6’3″, 211, he ran the 40 in 4.39 seconds- a pretty decent time. In his Senior year King had 71 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and two pass break-ups, starting all 12 games. Akeem lasted until the 7th round of the 2015 draft. He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons who understand that King is going to need to be coached up and tutored at the NFL level. A project, the Falcons intend to play Akeem first at cornerback.
Card: Sage Hit 2015, Sage Hit 2015 Gold (4/250)
Acquired: 2015, Box Breaker
Jake Ryan is a highly instinctive player who started 41 games for the Michigan Wolverines and was the team’s MVP for 2014. Early on at Michigan Ryan floated around the defense, spending time at both defensive end and strongside linebacker, before being plugged in at ILB. He finished with 267 tackles including 45.5 for a loss.
After a majority of the Packers linebackers were either cut or left via free agency, it was obvious that Green Bay was in to reload the middle of their defense. They’d tab Ryan in round 4 where he was expected to contribute immediately in the Packers defensive alignment. Jake started 5 out of 14 games in 2015 and recorded 50 tackles.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
Card: Sage 2015
