 Ballard with the Minnesota Vikings in 2012 | |||||||||
| No. 99 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Defensive tackle | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1989-01-03)January 3, 1989 (age 37) Newport News, Virginia, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 283 lb (128 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Lawrence Free State(Lawrence, Kansas) | ||||||||
| College | Iowa | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 2011: 4th round, 106th overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Christian Ballard (born January 3, 1989) is an American former professionalfootball player who was adefensive tackle in theNational Football League (NFL). He was selected by theMinnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the2011 NFL draft.[1] He playedcollege football for theIowa Hawkeyes.
AtLawrence Free State High School Ballard competed in football, basketball as well as track. In football, Ballard was a 2006 Preseason Prep Star All-American, he earned first-team All-State and All-Conference awards as asenior after being honorable mention all-conference as ajunior andsophomore. Prior to his senior season was listed amongst the Rivals.com Top 100 and ranked the #4tight end prospect in the nation bySports Illustrated.
For his high school career Ballard caught 50 passes for 558 yards and six touchdowns, including 23 receptions for 287 yards and five touchdowns as a senior. He teamed with fellow All-State/All-Conference players Ryan Murphy, Mikel Ruder, Brian Murphy, and Kyle Weinmaster to lead their team to an 11–1 record and an undefeated conference mark as seniors, the team's lone loss was toShawnee Mission West during the state championship playoffs.
Ballard also earned two letters inbasketball and four letters intrack and field where he earned some notoriety for, despite being 6'4" and 270 pounds he was a member of the school record holding4 × 100 relay team that qualified for the state championship meet. Over the course of his track career he had personal bests of 6.80 in the 55m dash (indoor), 22.97 in the200 meter dash, and ran second leg on a 4 × 100 team that ran a state best 41.89.
Ballard received scholarship offers from schools such asOklahoma,Florida State,Georgia,UCLA,Kansas andKansas State. As a junior, he made a verbal commitment to then Kansas football CoachMark Mangino, but continued to receive interest from other schools. After receiving notice via the internet that Ballard took a recruiting trip to the Georgia[2] it is rumored that Mangino rescinded the Jayhawks scholarship offer.[citation needed] Soon after Ballard switched his verbal commitment to theIowa.
At theUniversity of Iowa Ballard made an immediate impact by playing as a true freshman and collecting 15 tackles, four tackles-for-loss and 2.5quarterback sacks from the defensive end position. He also returned two kickoffs for 32 yards on special teams that season. As a sophomore Ballard become a starter atdefensive end for the Hawkeyes. For the season he tallied 40 tackles, 3.5 tackle-for-loss and 1.5 sacks. Ballard burst onto the national scene as a junior when he played both defensive end and defensive tackle, starting at both positions throughout the season. He teamed with fellow HawkeyeAdrian Clayborn to become one of the most feared defensive lines in the nation. For the season he totaled 54 tackles, nine tackles-for-loss and 5.5 quarterback sacks. At the end of the season, he was named third-team All-Big Ten by Phil Steele College Football Magazine and Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the Coaches Association. Prior to his senior season Ballard was named First-team All-Big Ten bySports Illustrated, despite being the source of constant double-team blocks he would go on to gather 43 tackles, five tackles for loss and 2.5 quarterback sacks. After the season, he again earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the Coaches Association as well as the Associated Press. He also received the Coaches Appreciation Award and earned an invite to the2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl.
For his career Ballard totaled 152 tackles, 21.5 tackles-for-loss and 12.5 quarterback sacks.
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 283 lb (128 kg) | 4.76 s | 1.67 s | 2.79 s | 4.51 s | 7.54 s | 34 in (0.86 m) | 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m) | 16 reps | |||
| All values fromNFL Scouting Combine, except bench and vertical.[3] | ||||||||||||
At the 2011NFL Scouting Combine Ballard, who had received a first round grade from NFL draft punditMel Kiper Jr., graded out as one of the most athletic defensive lineman at that year's combine. However, soon after, it was reported that he and another player,Justin Houston of the University of Georgia, had tested positive formarijuana.[4][5] This caused some teams to red-flag him with the much-feared "character flaw" label. It is said that this is the reason he slipped to the fourth round of the2011 NFL draft despite performing very well at the Combine and receiving such high marks from draft analysts such as Kiper andTodd McShay.
He was rated eleventh among defensive end prospects for the 2011 NFL draft.[3]
Ballard had been a part of the Vikings defensive line rotation since being drafted in 2011. He recorded his first NFL sack on December 12, 2012, onSam Bradford in a game against theSt. Louis Rams.
On August 19, 2013, coachLeslie Frazier announced that Ballard would be taking time off from the team to deal with personal issues.[6] The next month, in an interview withUSA Today, Ballard stated:
"I wasn't really having a good time playing football. It wasn't fun for me. It wasn't a blast for me..."Making that much money – that was fun. But money is still a material thing. You can always make money. You can't make that time that you lose with your friends and your loved ones. Time is something that you can never get back."[7]