Bobbie Brown didn’t want to leave her grandson’s side at Gulfport (Mississippi) Memorial Hospital, so she volunteered for the night shift to keep him company.

Derick Hall was born four months premature, in March 2001, weighing just 2 pounds and 9 ounces at birth and small enough for his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, to hold him in the palm of her hand. Hall spent the first five months of his life in the hospital, hooked up to a feeding tube and ventilator in an incubator, facing an uncertain future. A normal life was difficult to picture.

Every night between March and August, Brown sat beside Hall’s incubator, watching over her grandson and praying for the best. As tiny as Hall was, Brown found comfort in his seemingly large hands. They gave her assurance that, as bleak as the circumstances seemed, Hall was bound for something bigger.

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“You’re going to be something, because you got some big hands,” Brown recalled telling Hall one night, even if her grandson couldn’t understand her. “God got a plan for this kid right here.”

Hall’s unlikely journey from premature birth to the pride of Gulfport, where he became a local celebrity and top-150 recruit coming out of high school, are explored in Part 1 of AL.com’s Emmy-winning series “Road to the Pros” — a four-part documentary examining Hall’s childhood, his development into an All-SEC edge rusher at Auburn and his path to the NFL, culminating with his impending selection in this month’s NFL Draft.

The first installment of the series takes a closer look at Hall’s early years, from a developmentally delayed childhood to his breakout as a high school football star at Gulfport High School before signing with Auburn as part of its 2019 recruiting class. It was a journey that was as unlikely as it was inspiring, given the complications that came with those first five months in the hospital.

Even after being released from Gulfport Memorial, Hall underwent yearly EKG and CT scans as a child, just to make sure he was in the clear. He developed asthma at a young age and often found himself in and out of the hospital. His parents tried to afford him a normal life, encouraging him that he could do anything he set his mind to but making sure everything was done in moderation.

Hall began playing flag football when he was 4 years old. Gooden-Crandle and his father, Cedric Crandle, were nervous to let him play. There was hesitation at first, but their concerns were eased once Hall got on the field and started playing with the rest of the kids his age.

“She knew that was just my way of escaping,” Hall said. “Most kids were like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to go to practice,’ but I was excited to have an opportunity to do something other than lay up in the hospital or get shots or go and get a breathing treatment.”

Hall was aggressive on the field, and by the time he was 8 or 9 years old, he developed more stamina. He could stay on the field for longer stretches, and soon he was bigger than the other kids — something that was hard to envision during those five long months in the NICU. By then, Hall’s coach told his parents it was time for Hall to graduate from flag football to full-on contact in pads; not only was he bigger than the other kids his age, but he was more physical too.

“I kept saying, ‘Nah, he can’t be that tough; he can’t be that tough, right?” his uncle, Kevin Gooden said. “Then one night, my sister showed me a tape of him running the ball, and he just completely ran a kid slap over.”

Hall was driven, and he quickly fell in love with football. By eighth grade, he realized just how good he was, and how good he could be. His mom would find notes around the house, memos Hall wrote to himself sketching out his goals — where he wanted to be in five, 10 years. He had a clear vision and understood how to achieve it.

At Gulfport High, Hall was talented enough to play offense and defense, and he commanded the respect of his teammates, even when he was an underclassman. There was something about the way he carried himself off the field, not to mention how he performed on it. His sister, R’hana Gooden, thought he’d be a star on offense because his hands were so large and he could easily catch the ball, but defense is where he found his calling.

“I just loved him on offense,” Kevin Gooden said. “I think he did great things on offense, but he was just a dog on defense, too—middle linebacker, defensive end. They put him everywhere.”

Things really took off for Hall at the end of his junior year. He got on the radar of Power 5 programs. Ole Miss—at the time coached by Gulfport High graduate Matt Luke—was the first major program to offer a scholarship. Mississippi State was next, then Auburn followed suit, followed by Louisville and Florida State, among others. As Hall’s recruitment picked up, coaches flocked to Gulfport to see him and sit down with his family.

Marcus Woodson was his lead recruiter at Auburn. A native of Mississippi, Woodson knew it was going to be an uphill climb for the Tigers to lure Hall across state lines.

“If Ole Miss or Mississippi State wanted a kid from the state of Mississippi, it was hard to be able to pull a kid,” Woodson said. “…To be honest with you, I felt that it was a longshot.”

Woodson and the rest of Auburn’s coaching staff persisted, though. He and then-Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner were impressed with the film from Hall’s sophomore and junior seasons, but something was different his senior year. It was like he was too focused on the next opportunity, and he was trying not to get hurt before college.

Garner visited Hall in Gulfport one Friday night to watch him in person that fall and returned to the Plains disappointed. When Hall and his family came to Auburn for his official visit, Garner prepared a cutup of Hall’s play from that game and sat him down in his office to watch it.

“He’s like, ‘What’s this?’” Hall recalled. “I had my head down, and he’s like, ‘You suck. You’ll never play at Auburn. You’re not good enough. If you keep this up, I’m going to take my offer from you.’ He was just — I’m talking about putting it to me.”

That tough-love criticism ignited something inside Hall, who turned in one of the best games of his senior season the following week. It prompted a call from Garner, who was pleased to see Hall play to his potential. Hall appreciated Garner’s brutal honesty and desire to challenge him to be the best version of himself on the field, even though he wasn’t committed to Auburn—or anywhere—at the time.

There was a level of respect with Auburn that carried weight with Hall, whose college decision came down to Auburn, Mississippi State and Florida State. He wrestled with his decision until the night before the early signing period began Dec. 19, 2018. Surrounded by family and coaches during a ceremony at Gulfport High, Hall committed to and signed with Auburn.

He told Brown it was the decision that was best for him. Auburn is where he felt he needed to be to continue to grow and to get him onto the path he’s on now — on the cusp of achieving an NFL dream that seemed impossible during those five months at Gulfport Memorial Hospital.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Laura Goldman is a senior video producer for Alabama Media Group. Follow her on Twitter @GOODasGOLDman.