Sept. 11
So, looking for an early rookie-of-the-year candidate? Tennessee Titans defensive end Carlos Hall jumped out Sunday when he had three sacks in his debut against the Philadelphia Eagles, which is three times more than he had for the Arkansas Razorbacks all last season.

Hall filled in for injured Pro Bowl defensive end Jevon Kearse, who had surgery Tuesday to repair his broken foot. Hall did not just post three sacks; he also had a team-high seven tackles, forced a fumble and batted down two passes by Donovan McNabb. He did his dirty work against Eagles left tackle Tra Thomas, whom the team has been touting.

Hall, who was the 29th pick in the seventh round of this year's draft, became the second player in NFL history to open his career with three sacks. The first was Chip Banks of the Cleveland Browns; Banks was a former college teammate of Titans coach Jeff Fisher at USC.

"This guy (Hall) has a lot of upside," said Fisher. "He's got a lot of tools."

So how does a guy with "a lot of tools" at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds end up being a seventh-round pick? Well, he was an underachiever at Arkansas, evidenced by his one sack in his senior season. But he started 29 consecutive games for the Razorbacks. Most NFL scouts questioned his work ethic.

In fact, if the Titans had thought he was such a hot prospect, he certainly would have gone higher than the seventh round. After all, they had "inside" information on Hall because defensive line coach Jim Washburn helped recruit Hall to Arkansas before he left after the '97 season. (The deduction, therefore, is that Washburn wasn't all that high on Hall, either).

Hall will get a substantial amount of time to prove whether he will be one of this year's great draft oversights. Kearse will miss anywhere from six-to-eight weeks.