Nick Hallock might be one in a million. 

Those are the odds that a player Hallock’s age can bench-press 280 pounds. According to Bingham head football coach Eric Jones, that’s not the only thing the junior offensive lineman can do that is rare. 

“He’s a bully in the best way possible,” Jones said, who confirmed that Hallock accomplished this lifting feat during offseason workouts. 

During the season, Hallock, in the No. 72 jersey, has been too tall a task for many of his opponents on the other side of the trench. He’s been adept at taking other kids’ candy, proverbially speaking, and running them backwards down the football field until they fall. 

On a 37-yard run that senior Chase Swensen had in the second quarter of Bingham’s 47-38 win at Herriman Sept. 22, Hallock pushed his defensive lineman so far backwards that the poor kid started at the Herriman 40 and ended at the 25-yard-line. 

On another play, the junior interior offensive lineman punched Herriman edge-rusher Ephraim Asiata so hard in the chest that the fellow three-star who has offers from Utah, BYU and USC backpedaled five yards and was pancaked. 

To that end, Jones believes that Hallock, who is only rated as high as a 3-star by several recruiting services and has a lower overall rating than Asiata, and has no offers from any colleges at present, deserves to have some interest from schools, too. 

“Technically, he’s just a great player with good size who plays with great technique and tremendous aggression,” Jones said, who has watched Hallock surge up the ranks from Bingham’s freshman team to its varsity in one year. “He’s humble, hardworking and consistent. He’s got a great attitude every day, he’s coachable and accountable.”

Hallock’s Hudl profile suggests as much, too. In an era where some of the information you might read on a recruiting site might seem a bit sketchy, the coach said that all of the Bingham junior’s numbers are accurate and impressive: a 4.92 40, a 37.5 vertical and 18 bench-press reps of 185 pounds. 

“Whether I’m protecting my QB as an OT or ripping through the O-Line as a DE, I’ll play to the whistle and never give up!” stated the junior, who it seems from his highlights on Hudl warrants a better, more in-depth look from colleges.

Alongside his Miners teammates, Hallock has also been opening sizeable holes for senior Carson Sudbury who’s received one official offer at present, from Carroll College of Montana, according to the Bingham coach. 

“He certainly contributed mightily along with all the OL and all other blockers in getting our ground game established against Herriman,” said Jones of Hallock’s performance that lifted the Miners to a 2-0 record in Region 2, and sent Sudbury off to the races with a 26-carry, 194-yard, 3-touchdown day, Sept. 22. 

By the time you read this, Bingham will be closer to the end of the season rather than the beginning. 

Arguably the most brutal preseason in Bingham football history headlined by a home game versus No. 1 Mater Dei of California has come and gone, and the Miners scored 14 points in that one in a 48-14 loss. Bingham nearly upset Skyridge, last year’s 6A champion, but fell late, 35-28. 

Meanwhile, the leaves are already beginning to fall and the weather chillier by the week, meaning that the Miners are now in the thick of the Region 2 race at 2-0, 3-4 overall. 

For Jones, he just wants to see that all of his guys get the attention that he feels they deserve. 

“We’re very fortunate to have a guy like Nick. He’s freakishly athletic and strong. He could be playing tight end or defensive end but OT is where he helps the team the most and he’s got a team-first mentality, so he contributes on the OL for the betterment of the team.”  λ