Montee Ball 2025 NFF COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS

Montee ball

By Matt Fortuna

Montee Ball can pinpoint the moment that everything changed for him at Wisconsin. It came in 2010, just days after the Badgers had upset No. 1 Ohio State at Camp Randall, turbo-charging their Big Ten title run. Ball did not play a single snap in that game, which ate at his soul. Stuck at third on the depth chart, Ball was seriously considering a move from running back to linebacker to get on the field.

Then came the comeback at Kinnick.

“Unfortunately, John Clay and James White both suffer an injury,” Ball said. “And then of course (position coach) John Settle turns around and looks at me eyes wide — and my eyes are wide as well — and he’s like: ‘It’s time to put up or shut up.’ His exact words.”

The sophomore did exactly that, catching a seven-yard pass on fourth-and-4 to keep the Badgers’ final drive alive. He rushed for an 8-yard touchdown four plays later, and the rest was, literally, history.

Ball is now a College Football Hall of Famer, the 12th Badgers player to earn the honor. That he is the first Wisconsin running back from his era to make the Hall is not lost on him, considering the recent lineage at the position in Madison. Chalk it all up to a never-say-die attitude and an ability to take advantage of his moment, traits that helped him navigate what appeared to be a daunting task ahead of him with the Badgers. Ball told himself that day in Iowa City that he would never give that No. 1 position back. He never did.

"The reason why that moment sticks out to me is because we sit here and we talk to our youth going into the game of football, we obviously see this transfer portal of people looking on the other side of the fence and believing that the grass is greener,' Ball said. "It may be. It may be for some. But I believe statistically speaking, it's not, for the majority."

"I want for kids to see that you have to put the work in. There are no shortcuts to being great. There aren't. You have to put the work in, make the sacrifices and look yourself in the mirror and want to do the work. And so for me, I couldn't turn around and blame anybody else why I wasn't playing, why I wasn't getting any carries. I wasn't putting the work in in practice. And so I flipped that around, and when my opportunity came about, I grabbed it, man. I didn't let go."

Ball and the Badgers finished four yards shy of history that year, with Ball's 996 yards on the season the outlier amid a running back group that had two other 1,000-yard backs. That season, like the next two, ended in the Rose Bowl as Big Ten champs. Ball is the only player in college football history to post 100-yard rushing performances in three straight Rose Bowls.

In 2011, he was a Heisman finalist after tying Barry Sanders' NCAA record for most touchdowns in a season (39). He led the nation that season in rushing yards (1,923) and yards from scrimmage (2,229). In 2012, he won the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation's top running back.

The Wentzville, Mo., product set the NCAA record for career rushing touchdowns (77) and career total touchdowns (83). Ball's 5,140 career rushing yards are second on the school's all-time list, behind Ron Dayne, who held the FBS record for 17 years.

Ball was in a drive-through line at a Starbucks this past January when Brian Mason, Wisconsin's communications ace during his playing days, texted him "You got in!!!" Ball literally pulled out of the line and into the parking lot of a nearby bank to soak in the news of the Hall nod, FaceTiming family members and doing his best to limit his tears.

"What an honor," Ball said. "I truly mean that. What an honor to be selected and to be part of this fraternity of the greatest football players to ever play the game. And just to be selected so early in my life is a blessing. I'm so grateful and I just want to make sure that everybody understands I'm thankful for this."