Darrin Hall earns Walter Camp player of the week honors

Pitt running back Darrin Hall served as the driving force behind the Panthers offense in their 23-13 win over Virginia Friday night, and for his efforts, he was recognized by the Walter Camp Football Foundation as the organization’s National FBS Offensive Player of the Week.

Against a team that entered the game ranked 23rd in the country by the Associated Press and which ranked 20th in the country in run defense, Hall managed to rush for a season-high 229 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Averaging 12 yards per carry, the explosive back ran in scores from two, 41 and 75 yards out.

On the season, Hall has a career-high 658 rushing yards in addition to seven touchdowns on 89 carries for an average of 7.4 yards per attempt. Prior to Friday night, Hall’s previous season-high rushing performance came on Oct. 6 in a 44-37 upset of Syracuse. He was also responsible for a 254-yard performance against Duke in 2017, which marked a personal best.

Hall is the first Pitt player to win the weekly honor from the Walter Camp Football Foundation since former Pitt quarterback Nathan Peterman was given the honor on Nov. 13, 2016. Peterman won the award for his 308-yard, five-touchdown performance in Pitt’s upset of Clemson. Hall is the seventh Pitt player to win a Walter Camp player of the week award since 2004.

Thanks in large part to Hall’s effort, Pitt was able to advance to 5-4 on the season after beating Virginia, and more importantly, the team is now 4-1 in the ACC Coastal. That record gives the Panthers sole possession of first place in the division, as Virginia is now 4-2 and Virginia Tech fell to 3-2 after suffering a 31-21 loss to Boston College on Saturday.

Pitt will have a chance to pull away from its competition in the Coastal this weekend, as the team faces Virginia Tech in its final game at Heinz Field this season. Kickoff is set for 3:30 ET.