Montee Ball

Montee Ball, Jr. (born December 5, 1990) is an American college football running back for the Wisconsin Badgers football team of the University of Wisconsin. Following the 2011 and 2012 seasons, Ball was recognized as the best running back in the Big Ten Conference and a consensus first-team All-American. He currently holds the NCAA Division I-FBS record for most career rushing touchdowns with 77 and the NCAA Division I-FBS record for most career total touchdowns with 83.

Early years
Ball was born in Wentzville, Missouri. He attended Wentzville Timberland High School, and played high school football for the Timberland Wolves. He was ranked as the number 33 running back in the nation and fourth-best player in Missouri by Rivals.com. He was named first-team all-state, all-metro, all-district and all-conference as a senior. As a senior, Ball carried the ball 213 times for 2,187 yards and 41 touchdowns. As a junior, Ball was named player of the year (St. Louis American), first-team all-state, all-metro, all-district and all-conference after putting up 358 carries for 3,077 yards and 32 touchdowns, and was recognized in Sports Illustrated magazine's "Faces in the Crowd" section. As a sophomore, Ball was named first-team all-district and all-conference after carrying the ball 297 times for 1,845 yards and 15 touchdowns. As a freshman, Ball had 1,113 yards on 127 carries with 19 touchdowns. Ball was a team captain and team MVP as a sophomore, junior and senior. He holds the Wentzville school district rushing records with career totals of 995 carries, 8,222 yards, 107 touchdowns and an average of 8.26 yards per carry. Ball was also named to the all-academic list three times and was a two-time letterwinner in basketball.

2009
As a freshman, Ball played in 9 of the 13 games and finished second on the team in rushing yards (391), rushing touchdowns (4) and rushing attempts (98).

2010
Ball played in 12 games including starts in the final four games. Ball began the 2010 season as the backup running back to John Clay, the 2009 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Clay was somewhat limited in 2010 as he nursed offseason ankle surgery and later an MCL injury, so Ball gained a prominent role in the Badgers offense, along with freshman back James White. Ball led the team in rushing touchdowns, ranked second in rushing attempts and scoring, third in rushing yards and all purpouse yards and fourth in total offense. His 18 rushing touchdowns are tied for fourth-most in a single season and his 6.11 yards per carry is sixth-best in one season at UW. Ball also scored 108 points on the season which ties for sixth-most UW annuals. At the end of the season, Ball was named consensus honorable mention All-Big Ten.

2011
Ball played and started in all 14 games. On October 15, 2011, Ball was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after throwing a 25-yard TD pass and scoring three rushing touchdowns with 142 yards rushing, including a career long 54-yard rush, on 14 carries and 46 yards receiving on one catch against Indiana.

On November 5, 2011, Ball was named Big Ten Player of the Week after rushing for a career high 223 yards against the Purdue Boilermakers. During that game, Ball scored four touchdowns (three rushing and one receiving) which gave him 146 total points scored on the season. This broke Brian Calhoun's school record for total points in a single season of 144.

On November 12, 2011, Ball broke the single season Big Ten Conference record for touchdowns by rushing for two and receiving one against the Minnesota. Ball had 27 touchdowns (23 rushing and 4 receiving) at the end of that game. The previous record of 26 was held by Ohio State's Pete Johnson (1975), Indiana's Anthony Thompson (1988) and Penn State's Ki-Jana Carter (1994).

On November 19, 2011, against Illinois, Ball ran for a career high 224 yards and two touchdowns on a career high 38 carries. He also added a receiving TD and became just the fifth player in NCAA Division I FBS history to score 30 touchdowns in a single season.

On November 26, 2011, Ball scored four touchdowns against Penn State, and four more in the Big Ten Championship game one week later giving Ball 38 total touchdowns on the season which is 2nd all-time in FBS. He trails Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders who scored 39 touchdowns in 1988.

Ball was one of three finalists for the 2011 Doak Walker Award joining Oregon's LaMichael James and Alabama's Trent Richardson. The award was given to Alabama's Trent Richardson.

Ball was named First Team All-Big Ten, by both the coaches and media, at the conclusion of the 2011 regular season. Ball was also the winner of two other Big Ten awards. The Graham-George Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award which was renamed in 2011 after of Northwestern's Otto Graham and Ohio State's Eddie George and the Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year award which was also renamed in 2011 after Wisconsin's Alan Ameche and Ron Dayne.

On December 5, 2011, Ball was named one of five finalists for the Heisman Trophy. He is joined by Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and Alabama running back Trent Richardson. On the same day, Ball was named All-American by AFCA joining teammates Peter Konz and Kevin Zeitler. Ball was also named All-American by CBS again joined by teammate Peter Konz.

On December 8, 2011, Ball was named First Team All-American by Yahoo Sports. Ball's teammates Peter Konz and Kevin Zeitler were named to the Second Team and quarterback Russell Wilson and linebacker Chris Borland was named to the Third Team.

On December 10, 2011, Ball was one of five finalists invited to New York City for the presentation of the Heisman Trophy. He finished fourth in the voting with 348 points (22-1st place, 83-2nd place and 116-3rd place points). Ball's fourth place finish was the highest in Wisconsin history for a non-winner of the award. Ball was joined by teammate Russell Wilson who also received votes, Wilson finished ninth with 52 points. Baylor's Robert Griffin III won the award.

On January 2, 2012, Ball scored his 39th touchdown of the season tying him with Barry Sanders for most touchdowns in a single FBS season.

On January 5, 2012, Ball announced he would return for his senior year with the UW Badgers rather than entering the 2012 NFL Draft.

2012
On October 13, 2012, Ball scored three rushing touchdowns against Purdue giving Ball a career total of 72 touchdowns. Ball's total of 72 touchdowns broke the Big Ten record and the Wisconsin record of 71 held by former Badgers running back Ron Dayne.

On November 17, 2012, Montee scored on a 7 yard run in the second quarter against Ohio State tying Travis Prentice with an NCAA record 78 career touchdowns.

On November 24, 2012, Ball became the FBS career record holder for total touchdowns when he scored his 79th touchdown on a 17 yard run against Penn State.

On December 6, 2012, Ball won the Doak Walker Award that is awarded to the nation's top running back. Ball finished ahead of fellow finalists Kenjon Barner of Oregon and Johnathan Franklin of UCLA. Ball is the second Badger to win the award, Ron Dayne won the award in 1999.

On January 1, 2013, Ball became the first player in Rose Bowl Game history to score a touchdown in three straight years.

Records
NCAA single season records
 * Most touchdowns, season: 39 tied (2011)
 * Most consecutive games with two or more touchdowns: 13 (2011)
 * Most points scored by non-kicker: 236 (2011)

NCAA career records
 * Most touchdowns: 83 (2009-2012)
 * Most Rushing Touchdowns: 77 (2009-2012)

Big Ten single season records
 * Most touchdowns: 39 (2011)

Wisconsin single season records
 * Most touchdowns: 39 (2011)
 * Most rushing touchdowns: 33 (2011)

Wisconsin career records
 * Highest average yards per rush: 5.56

Personal
Parents are Montee Sr. and Melissa Ball. Cousin, Darius Hill, played football at Ball State. Montee enjoys basketball, reading and video games.

Ball was assaulted in the early morning hours of August 1, 2012, while walking on University Ave. in Madison. The attackers were reported as three black males unknown to Ball.