The thought of last year's late-season 24-17 loss to Nebraska still stings for Iowa football fans. Not only did the Hawkeyes fall to a hated rival, but the loss kept Iowa out of the its second-straight Big Ten Championship appearance.
The game was -- to put it nicely -- a learning experience for freshman corner TJ Hall.
After replacing star cornerback Cooper DeJean early in the contest after he went down with an injury, Hall allowed several big plays to Cornhusker receiver Trey Palmer. The Nebraska wideout finished with nine catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns.
"When the game first happened, I met with the coaches and I let them know 'I take full responsibility for it, I just need y'all to still believe in me,'" Hall said at Iowa's Football Media Day on Friday. You kind of have to have a next play mentality, but you've always got to remember what hurt you. You've just got to come in and make sure it motivates you but doesn't eat you up. But it's always at the back of your mind, just to not let it happen again, and to make sure that when the time comes again you're ready to go."
"I definitely think about it," Hall continued. "If I'm tired, or it's that time in practice, maybe it's something somebody said, it's like 'Okay, I'm going to remind y'all that I'm still one of the top guys.' It's definitely always a source a motivation and keeps you driven."
He points to several things that have kept his confidence up in the meantime.
"My knowledge for the game and my playing ability makes me one of the top guys [at corner]," Hall said. "I'm able to move real smooth and get fluid in and out of breaks. Then, being smart and knowing what's coming -- what they're about to attack me with."
"I don't think I ever really lost confidence," he added. "The confidence is always there."
Though Deshaun Lee wasn't forced into the roll that Hall was late last season, the rest of the defense may have to rely on him sooner rather than later, depending on how long DeJean and Jermari Harris stick around, and if he's called upon this season.
"I feel like my confidence has definitely grown over the past year," Lee said. "I'm just consistently working on watching film and preparing to be the best version of myself when I walk out onto the field -- know what I'm doing, play smart and physical."
"I'm doing what I'm supposed to do and doing my job in practice," he continued. "I'm playing fast and making plays. That definitely gives me the confidence to go in a game if I need to and do what I've been doing at practice, building on those habits I've created."
At the very least, the duo believes in one another and values what the other brings.
"Deshaun is good at everything," Hall said. "He's good at man, zone, reading the quarterbacks -- there's a lot of good things he does. We definitely push each other. We make each other better, make each other great. We're both battling, competing so that makes everybody in the whole DB room better."
"He does a lot of things well," Lee added of Hall. "He's got good feet and good ball skills. I definitely feel like he and I have grown since last year. We're working every day, and we're getting coached by one of the best in the game in Coach (Phil) Parker. He's putting tools in our tool box to help us learn and grow."
