ENGLEWOOD - Montee Ball was known at Wisconsin as a reliable, durable running back, not a fumbler. In 924 carries he coughed it up just twice, and one of those came when he was knocked cold.
So, when he matched that total in the NFL in just 31 carries, alarm bells went off around Denver Broncos headquarters.
Running backs coach Eric Studesville soon found the flaw and offered a subtle solution: tucking the football into the crook of his elbow a split-second faster.
Ball hasn't put the ball on the ground since.
"So, I'm pretty sure I'm good now," said Ball, who scored his first NFL touchdown last week to go with the NCAA record 83 he collected in college.
He didn't have to worry about defenders hitting him so quickly when he was piling up yards and touchdowns for the Badgers over the last four years.
"That's exactly what Coach E. said. At Wisconsin, I had a very, very long time before I was even touched. Sometimes I wasn't even touched at all on a lot of my runs," Ball said. "Here, it's the NFL. Everyone's great. So, I've been working on just positioning the ball as soon as I get the handoff, put the ball away quick."
Read more at http://gazette.com/broncos-montee-ba...thea3vcmbeZ.99
http://gazette.com/broncos-montee-ba...rticle/1508556
So, when he matched that total in the NFL in just 31 carries, alarm bells went off around Denver Broncos headquarters.
Running backs coach Eric Studesville soon found the flaw and offered a subtle solution: tucking the football into the crook of his elbow a split-second faster.
Ball hasn't put the ball on the ground since.
"So, I'm pretty sure I'm good now," said Ball, who scored his first NFL touchdown last week to go with the NCAA record 83 he collected in college.
He didn't have to worry about defenders hitting him so quickly when he was piling up yards and touchdowns for the Badgers over the last four years.
"That's exactly what Coach E. said. At Wisconsin, I had a very, very long time before I was even touched. Sometimes I wasn't even touched at all on a lot of my runs," Ball said. "Here, it's the NFL. Everyone's great. So, I've been working on just positioning the ball as soon as I get the handoff, put the ball away quick."
Read more at http://gazette.com/broncos-montee-ba...thea3vcmbeZ.99
http://gazette.com/broncos-montee-ba...rticle/1508556
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