Ballard's Draft Stock Increasing - SI





Man I wished I saved all those comments during the off-season prior to last year when everyone was hammering me for suggesting that Ballard was going to be a marked improvement over Mitch King. Those were considered sacriligious comments back then. Now Ballard is being given consideration as a first rounder.

As I said back then, King was a great hustle guy whose play exceeded his physical tools. But, in doing so, King had to develop a very specific gap penetration method, which allowed him to make a lot of TFL's. However, this also left the line vulnerable for certain types of rushing plays. The difference with Ballard is that he can crush the line or shoot
the gap. He might actually not match King's TFL's, but he will be more dominant overall.
 


CAARHawk said:
Man I wished I saved all those comments during the off-season prior to last year when everyone was hammering me for suggesting that Ballard was going to be a marked improvement over Mitch King. Those were considered sacriligious comments back then. Now Ballard is being given consideration as a first rounder.

As I said back then, King was a great hustle guy whose play exceeded his physical tools. But, in doing so, King had to develop a very specific gap penetration method, which allowed him to make a lot of TFL's. However, this also left the line vulnerable for certain types of rushing plays. The difference with Ballard is that he can crush the line or shoot
the gap. He might actually not match King's TFL's, but he will be more dominant overall.
Click to expand...

'that guy' turns up early-on in the thread.
 


CAARHawk said:
Man I wished I saved all those comments during the off-season prior to last year when everyone was hammering me for suggesting that Ballard was going to be a marked improvement over Mitch King....As I said back then, King was a great hustle guy
Click to expand...

I remember someone posting those sentiments but I don't recall it being you.
 




I recall Ballard coming to the Scout.com camp back in what, spring of 2005? He came is a tight end commit to KS. then the scout folks asked him to do DL drills...and he pretty much stopped the camp with how he played. I offered him shortly thereafter. I think the old KU staff was ticked at Scout for that, for losing him. He was a highly rated TE prospect, too. When he arrived at Iowa, he got a look at TE, but then was offered the chance to move to DL. He had to deal with KU going to the Orange Bowl when Iowa was in the midst of their mini slump, and all the questions from folks back home...same with Clayborn who got those same questions from the Mizzou folks back home. But in the end, they stuck it out and its working out well
 


You guys can all hate me for bringing it up, but I am telling you I took a ton of crap for saying that... and I mean a multi-page barrage. Sometimes you just have to come back and give people crap for the crap they gave you.
 




Mac50702 said:
I still say Ballard has been the most consistent out of all our DL this season.
Click to expand...

Well of course he is! Clayborn takes extra attention. And Ballard is clearly the best player outside of AC on the D-Line, so he takes advantage of the mismatches much more consistently.
 


JonDMiller said:
I recall Ballard coming to the Scout.com camp back in what, spring of 2005? He came is a tight end commit to KS. then the scout folks asked him to do DL drills...and he pretty much stopped the camp with how he played. I offered him shortly thereafter. I think the old KU staff was ticked at Scout for that, for losing him. He was a highly rated TE prospect, too. When he arrived at Iowa, he got a look at TE, but then was offered the chance to move to DL. He had to deal with KU going to the Orange Bowl when Iowa was in the midst of their mini slump, and all the questions from folks back home...same with Clayborn who got those same questions from the Mizzou folks back home. But in the end, they stuck it out and its working out well
Click to expand...

YOU offered him? Holy smokes I didn't realize you were that big time with the Iowa football program! ;)
 




I will admit that at the beginning of last year, I had Binns as being ultimately the best pro-prospect. Kind of a longer shot than the 2 obvious, and Daniels now apparantly, but I am sticking to it so hopefully in the next few years I can say, "remember when I said that?" :)
 


JonDMiller said:
I recall Ballard coming to the Scout.com camp back in what, spring of 2005? He came is a tight end commit to KS. then the scout folks asked him to do DL drills...and he pretty much stopped the camp with how he played. I offered him shortly thereafter. I think the old KU staff was ticked at Scout for that, for losing him. He was a highly rated TE prospect, too. When he arrived at Iowa, he got a look at TE, but then was offered the chance to move to DL. He had to deal with KU going to the Orange Bowl when Iowa was in the midst of their mini slump, and all the questions from folks back home...same with Clayborn who got those same questions from the Mizzou folks back home. But in the end, they stuck it out and its working out well
Click to expand...


Wow Jon, I knew you were big time, but you are handing out scholly offers too? I had no idea! :)
 






You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts

Share this page






Top