For many people, May means springtime. If you live in parts of the country that receive snow, this means the color green is once again seen outside of your window, yard work begins and you can stop wearing so many clothes that you look like the “Stay-Puft” marshmallow man. May also means we are right in the middle of rookie fever.

This is the time of year when every dynasty owner worth their DLF tee shirt should be able to name you 30 rookies who they are drooling over. For many of us, we’ve been able to name you 30 rookies that we’ve been drooling over for months, if not years! Most of us on staff have our personal favorites – guys who we love more than the rest. These often spark some serious debate as well because sometimes guys I love, others hate and vice versa. This mix of opinions and the debates about player value is what makes fantasy football and dynasty leagues so great.

This year, one of the most debated players is Montee Ball. I’m here today to profess my love for the former Badger (as much as it hurts coming from a former Gopher) and state my case. I know I’m higher on him than most, which is why he’s been one of my picks in every single DLF Team mock rookie draft we have done. That’s fine by me!

Let me start by saying this isn’t a new affliction for me that resulted from him being drafted by Denver. I’ve been on the Ball bandwagon ever since the middle of his 2011 season – let me tell you five reasons why.

Reason #1: College Production

Ball didn’t just produce in college. He is one of the most productive college running backs in the history of college football. Let me throw a few numbers at you. There is only one running back in the history of the FBS (since 1970) to have all of the following (and it isn’t even close):

Over 5,000 career rushing yards

A season with over 2,200 yards from scrimmage

Over a 5.5 YPC average for his college career

A season with over 30 rushing touchdowns and over 35 total touchdowns

A career with over 75 rushing touchdowns

Given that this is an article about Ball, I’m sure you figured it out it is him. Take a second to think about all of that. He tied Hall of Famer Barry Sanders for most touchdowns from scrimmage in a single season with 39 (33 rushing and six receiving) in 2011. He holds the all-time record for most rushing touchdowns in a career with 77 scores. He is also#17 all-time when it comes to rushing yards for a college career. When you add in that he was doing all of this in a major football conference like the Big Ten, going up against the likes of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Nebraska on a regular basis, you know the guy can play some football.

Speaking of the Big Ten conference…

Reason #2: He isn’t just another Wisconsin Running Back

For whatever reason, we sports fans like to stereotype players. Certain combinations of position and school automatically change our opinions on players. If I say USC quarterback, you automatically think of great college production, but failing in the pros. Is this fair? Not really. Sure, Matt Leinart was a bust, but he is hardly the only first round quarterback to flame out. He isn’t even the only Heisman winning first round quarterback to bust. It happens.

The same can be said for Wisconsin running backs. People immediately think back to Ron Dayne, the 1999 Heisman winner. Dayne was drafted eleventh overall by the New York Giants, but never lived up to the hype. The image of the 5’10”, 250 pound wrecking ball has become the mental image that everyone gets when thinking about Wisconsin running backs – that isn’t Ball.

Ball has good size at 5’10” and 214 pounds and possesses a very complete skill set. While he doesn’t excel in any one physical area, he is very good at just about everything. He isn’t overly fast and doesn’t have overwhelming power, but he does have good quickness, excellent vision, is a very patient runner and does a great job of breaking tackles or at least falling forward. He hits the holes hard with very good burst on tape. He also showed good moves in the open field and has good hands for a running back. When it comes to pass protection, he played in a pro-style offense in college and showed he was pretty good at picking up blitzers. In other words, he definitely has the skills to be a bell cow back, which brings me to reason #3…

Reason #3: He can carry the load.

In the age of running back committees both in college and in the NFL, it is rare you find a player who has the ability to play on all three downs. Not only does Ball possess the skills, but he has proven he can handle the heavy workloads required of a three down running back. Many of Ball’s detractors will look at his 900+ career carries in college and say it is a red flag. I don’t see it that way at all. What it tells me is he can be a 250+ carry running back at the NFL and stay healthy while doing it. His only injury of note didn’t even occur on the football field – it occurred just before the start of the 2012 season when he was attacked by a group of men late at night near his campus. This altercation resulted in a concussion. Outside of that incident, he has a clean bill of health even with all of those carries – that speaks volumes to me.

In regards to the concern that the 900+ carries in college will significantly shorten his NFL career, let’s take a moment to look at a few numbers.

Name Carries in College Years in College Carries per Year Most Carries in a year NFL Carries so far Montee Ball 924 4 231 356 0 Adrian Peterson 747 3 249 339 1754 Ray Rice 910 3 303 380 1216 Steven Jackson 743 3 248 350 2395 Matt Forte 833 4 208 361 1262

As you can see, Ball is very much in the middle of the pack in terms of carries per year and most carries in a season while in college. All four of the running backs listed have been very productive in the NFL even though they had heavy workloads while in college. Even if all that Ball gives me is 1,200 carries in the NFL (which would put him on the low end of this scale), that’s still about four years worth of solid production. Name me a rookie running back you can guarantee me will produce for four years or more.

Besides, I’m not overly convinced that carries have a massive impact on how long a running back makes it in the NFL. I think it had more to do with age and avoiding injuries. Ball is 22 years old and has a clean bill of health on the football field. If he only gives you six years of production because he played four years in college instead of getting seven years, is that really a reason to pass on him and take a lesser running back? I definitely don’t think so. Keep in mind…

Reason #4: He was near the top of everyone’s list after the 2011 season.

If we go back and look at reports near the end and just after the 2011 college football season, almost everyone had Ball as a top three (if not top two or better) running back in that draft class. He was a Heisman finalist and regarded as a potential first round pick – that’s the same draft class that featured Trent Richardson, Doug Martin, David Wilson, Lamar Miller and many others.

If he was good enough then, what happened? Were people disappointed he “only” rushed for 1,830 yards with a 5.1 yards per carry average and 22 touchdowns? For those of you keeping track at home, that was third in the nation in yards and sixth in scoring. Sure, it was a bit of a downtick in production from 2011 when he lead the nation in both categories, but keep in mind that was going from Russell Wilson at quarterback in 2011 to having multiple different starting quarterbacks during the 2012 season.

I really don’t know why the opinions of Ball shifted so drastically. He played an “extra” year in college. He played every game during that year, produced as one of the best in the nation and refined some parts of his game, yet people have dropped him significantly down their boards as a result. I just don’t get it and I must not have been the only one, because…

Reason #5: The Denver Broncos took him in the second round.

I mentioned this love affair began during the 2011 season. It only intensified when the Denver Broncos selected Ball in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The fact he was drafted over some of the more heralded members of this rookie running back class (like Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin) tells me I’m not the only one that likes Ball. To the fantasy enthusiast, picking quality players is a passion. To an NFL team, picking quality players is huge, huge business. They don’t always get it right, but they have massive amounts of money invested into making sure they pick the right guy. I tend to put a fair amount of trust into NFL teams given what is at stake.

As for the situation itself, it couldn’t be much better than it is in Denver. They have a high quality offensive line, very little quality at running back and have a Hall of Fame quarterback. Ball will transition very smoothly from the Badgers to the Broncos and should be the bell cow back for Peyton Manning’s offense.

In terms of production, Ball might not be a true fantasy RB1 since the offense will run through Manning’s arm. However, he does have the talent and the situation where he could produce top 15 running back numbers in fantasy this year. I’m honestly not sure what more you could ask for in a rookie running back. I think sleeping on him in favor of some others would be a major mistake.

Montee Ball, I love you man! Well, at least more than most.

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