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24 ◆ CAVALIER CORNER BY BRAD FRANKLIN I T WAS WELL INTO THE EARLY morning by the time the bus arrived back in Charlottesville on Nov. 17 last year. On the heels of a tough loss in Foggy Bottom, the sixth-ranked Cava- liers had hit early season adversity dead on. For at least one player on that trip back, the thought of going to sleep was just too much and he knew exactly who to call. There is a bond that players regularly share with their teammates, but the one be- tween third-year guard Devon Hall and his older brother Mark, himself a graduate stu- dent on UVA's football team, is something altogether different. Devon had gone 1-of-6 shooting that night at George Washington, including an 0-of-3 showing from behind the three-point line. He scored just two points in 19 minutes and UVA went on to lose 73-68. But instead of sleep, he needed to get in the gym. And that's where his older brother came in. "I think it was like 2, 3 a.m. when he called me and told me he needed me to come rebound for him," Mark recalled. "And I was like, 'Bro I have to get up in the morning for practice. Do you see what time it is?' And he was like, 'Yeah but I need you.' "There's no way I could say no to that because he felt like he played bad, he felt like he shot bad, he felt like he let his team- mates down, and he just wanted to get some work in," Mark added. "So I got up, got dressed, went down to the practice gym, and helped him out. I got there and thought I was just going to be half asleep while I'm passing him the ball and I'd be fine, but there I was, running around and rebounding and passing." Devon's version sounds very similar: "It was our second game and we played George Washington and I didn't shoot it well. I just didn't think I had a good game and we took an L, too. I just wanted to get some shots up so I called him because I was frustrated with the way I played. It was maybe 2:30-3 a.m. and I just needed to get in the gym. We both had stuff the next morning, but I had to do it. And he was there for me. "I would do the same thing if he needed me," Devon added. "No question." A 6-2, 260-pound defensive end, Mark has dealt with a number of ups and downs during his career at UVA. Through position switches and coaching changes, he's always been able to keep himself on the right track. Having come to the university in 2012, he redshirted that year and learned quickly that transitioning to college was a tough gig. That Devon, a 6-5, 207-pound guard, arrived the following summer made life a lot easier for Mark, who could help his brother through what was also a tough transition. "Him being able to guide me through the redshirt process was huge," Devon said. "He told me to trust that process and just work as hard as possible. That was easier for me to hear from him because he had lived it. "He went through the same scenario so that helped me out 100 percent." The Hall brothers, each with degree in hand by this point (Mark in anthropology, Devon in media studies) and working on their master's, have been able to support each other through the years in ways that few would totally under- stand. The first male children in their family to graduate from college, earning scholarships and then allowing their parents to be able to see them both in one trip was special. "There will be moments where I'm strug- gling with something in school or in practice and I reach out to him," Devon explained. "We both lean on our teammates in our sports, no question, but we also lean on each other. We see each other as often as we can. Even though we're both crazy busy, we make it work. "It's been huge," he added. "It's so nice that they have us both at the same school and that obviously helps with travel and everything. I think they're just really proud of us having come up here and making the most of our col- lege years and we've gotten great educations." "We wanted to make it easier on our par- ents," Mark said. "It's a parent's dream to see their kids earn a scholarship and go to college so that was something that was important for us. We talked a lot about it and we wanted to be the first male grandchildren in our family to graduate college. That was very important to us." That Devon ended up at UVA had some- thing to do with his brother already being in Charlottesville. As kids, the two played sports together for a number of years until it was clear that their sport of choice would fork them in different directions. But the games of one-on- one were still interesting. "We both played football and basketball," Mark said. "We played on teams together all of our lives. My brother played quarterback. He was a right-handed quarterback even though he shoots with his left hand. I stopped playing basketball my senior year in high school, and by then it was clear he was going to be a real player. He stuck to that from middle school on and it stuck to him. "I was always the stronger one when we played one-on-one," Mark added. "But he was always the quicker one. For a while, I was big- ger and I would win, but then he got bigger and he was still fast. They were lots of fun." "We talked some about it," Devon said of picking UVA and joining his brother. "It wasn't the reason but it made coming here that much sweeter, being able to come to this program and also have my brother here as well. It was a perfect situation and I hopped on it because of that." "I think he was always mindful that he didn't want to come here just because I was here," Mark noted. "He had a lot of opportuni- ties but he felt like this was the best school for him, the best fit for him, and the fact that I was here was just a big bonus. It was a positive because he had the support system here." It's clearly worked out well for them both, especially this past year when Mark was strug- gling to adjust to the coaching transition. "For me, he's been a big positive for me," Mark said. "My roughest time was this past year actually. I wasn't guaranteed a fifth year because, like Coach [Bronco] Mendenhall says, everything is earned not given. I had to earn my fifth year and I had a tough time mak- Devon (on the left, media studies) and Mark Hall (anthropology), who both al- ready have their undergraduate degrees in hand and are working on their mas- ter's, are the first male children in their family to graduate from college. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA A BOND THAT ENDURES The Hall Brothers, Devon And Mark, Share A Special Experience