Punter Brendan Hall represents MSU at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine

The Bobcat football team celebrated punter Brendan Hall as he participated in the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine Specialist Showcase.

The showcase was established in 2024 as a way for the league to evaluate potential NFL talent in the kicker, punter and long-snapper positions from athletes around the globe.

At the traditional NFL Combine, prospects undergo a range of tests to show their athleticism, such as the 40-yard dash and the bench press. Athletes also participate in drills on the field that are related to their position groups. Results are then recorded so scouts can more readily compare the athletes and decide who their teams should consider for the NFL Draft. The Specialist Showcase is set up similarly, although invitees don’t take part in the athleticism tests. 

Hall was one of just 27 athletes to participate in this year’s specialist showcase and one of only two Football Championship Subdivision players invited.

“That was an awesome experience,” Hall said. “[The showcase] was a really cool experience to be able to do that, and especially here [at] MSU to be able to represent a school that cares so much about football, to be able to be the only guy at the combine — maybe a couple more should have gone, that’s not my choice — but that was a really cool thing.”

Hall explained that he grew up playing soccer and only tried out for football in junior high when his team needed a kicker. After succeeding at the high school level, he decided to continue his kicking career at Southern Methodist University (SMU), which offered him a scholarship. 

“Among some other schools, SMU just kind of made sense with the scholarship and [how many] connections they have over there at that school,” Hall said. “We had a new coach for my second year and I was kind of just [doing] kickoff.” 

Hall eventually transferred to MSU after the 2022 season and has spent the past two seasons primarily as the Bobcat’s punter and kickoff specialist.

According to ESPN, the Specialist Showcase was created as part of the NFL Combine when it was decided that a standalone workout would be the best way to showcase the athletes on special teams. Up until that point, a limited number of specialists generally participated in the regular combine.

This change promotes morevisibility for prospects in specialist positions andmakes it easier for scouts to evaluate them. According to ESPN, before this new format, scouts looking to see specialists work out had to travel to each player individually.

This new strategy has kept the NFL consistent, if nothing else, as four specialists were drafted in 2024 — compared to six from 2023 — and an additional 10 players signed undrafted free-agent contracts with teams during the 2024 season, according to the NFL.

Six of the 27 specialists present — those considered top prospects —  also participated in the full NFL Combine. This left an additional nine kickers, six punters and six long-snappers who only took part in the Specialist Showcase. All athletes were tested both physically and mentally by scouts from the 32 NFL teams, all to see if they have what it takes to make it at the highest level of competitive football.

“They just fire off questions at you,” Hall said. “Sometimes they would interrupt each other in the middle of you answering one question, they didn’t care. They’d ask another one [because] they kind of want to see how you respond under all the pressure and whatnot of their questions in there.”

Hall said that he was pleased with his performance at the showcase, as he was able to perform well in his kickoffs, holds and punts.

“I feel good. Kickoffs went well, I didn’t try to over-kick but had two solid kickoffs,” Hall said. “Holding —  [I’ll] need to continue to work on that, but I was getting it into the right spot. And then punting, I didn’t shank any balls and then I hit a bunch of bombs, so I think that’s good.”

Hall held for international kicker Lenny Krieg during the showcase, who — according to ESPN — caught attention from scouts as the only placekicker to make all of his attempted field goals at the combine, which included a 55-yard try.

Hall said he was glad he became a Bobcat and had a clear message for anyone inspired by his successes.

“If you just do what you can do and then you do your best to help your team, people notice,” Hall said. “They’ll notice in the way that you do things and then how you perform out on the field, and hopefully somebody at the next level is looking.”

To find out more information about the NFL Scouting Combine and other NFL scouting information, visit the NFL Football Operations website at https://operations.nfl.com/journey-to-the-nfl/the-next-generation-of-nfl-stars/nfl-scouting-combine/.