| Ballard brings good size and tremendous upper-body strength to the table, and seems to be at his best when the lights are shining brightest. The bruising back concluded his senior season with a bang, leading Mississippi State to a 23-17 win over Wake Forest in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 behind a career-high 180 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Ballard, who in 2010 - his first season on campus after transferring from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College - rushed for a school-record 19 TDs, finished fourth in the SEC with 1,189 rushing yards during his 2011 campaign. Ballard doesn't posses great speed but more than makes up for it with good vision and an ability to make defenders miss. Ballard projects as a likely fourth- or fifth-round pick, but surely helped his stock with a solid showing at the NFL combine. While his 40-yard dash time of 4.65 seconds left much to be desired, Ballard finished tied for fifth among running backs with 23 bench press reps. He also posted a time of 7.03 seconds in the three-cone drill - the 13th-best mark at his position. In order to excel at the next level, Ballard will likely need to get more comfortable catching passes out of the backfield. While he has soft hands and runs good routes, Ballard only hauled in 30 receptions during his career with the Bulldogs. Ballard has a good attitude and a solid worth ethic, and - if given an opportunity - should be able to immediately contribute on Sundays. |
