Christian Ballard

Christian Ballard

No. 99     Minnesota Vikings
Defensive Tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: January 3, 1989 (1989-01-03) (age 22)
Place of birth: New Port News, Virginia
High School: Lawrence Free State High School
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	Weight: 283 lb (128 kg)
Career information
College: Iowa
NFL Draft: 2011 / Round: 4 / Pick: 106
Debuted in 2011 for the Minnesota Vikings
Career history
Minnesota Vikings (2011–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 8, 2011
Tackles	3
Sacks	0
INTs	0
Stats at NFL.com

Christian Ballard (born January 3, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at Iowa after attending Lawrence Free State High School. He was rated eleventh among defensive end prospects for the 2011 NFL Draft.^[1] He was drafted in the fourth round as the number 106 overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings.

College Career

At the University of Iowa Ballard made an immediate impact by playing as a true freshman and collecting 15 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 quarterback 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 at defensive 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 Hawkeye Adrian Clayborn to become one of the most feared defensive lines in the nation. For the season he totaled 54 tackles, 9 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 quarterback sacks. At the end of the season he was named 3rd 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 by Sports Illustrated, despite being the source of constant double-team blocks he would go on to gather 43 tackles, 5 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 the 2011 Under Armour Senior Bowl.

For his career Ballard totaled 152 tackles, 21.5 tackles-for-loss and 12.5 quarterback sacks.

High School Career

At Lawrence 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 a senior after being honorable mention all-conference as a junior and sophomore. He had scholarship offers from schools such as University of Oklahoma, Florida State University, University of Georgia, UCLA, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University

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 and Brian Murphy to lead their team to an 11-1 record and an undefeated conference mark as seniors.

Ballard also earned two letters in basketball and four letters in track and field where he earned some notoriety for, despite being 6'4" and 270 pounds he anchored the 4x400 and 4x200 relay teams which qualified for the state championship meet. Over the course of his track career Ballad had personal bests of 6.80 in the 55m dash (indoor), 42.82 in the 400m leg of the 4x400 relay and 22.97 in the 200 meter dash.

Controversy

In high school after making a verbal commitment to then University of Kansas football Coach Mark Mangino, Ballard continued to receive interest from other schools. After receiving notice via the internet that Ballard took a recruiting trip to the University of Georgia^[2] it is rumored that Coach Mangino rescinded the Jayhawks scholarship offer. Soon after Ballard switched his verbal commitment to the University of Iowa.

At the 2011 NFL Combine Ballard, who had received a 1st round grade from NFL Draft pundit Mel Kiper, graded out as one of the most athletic defensive lineman at that years combine. However, soon after, it was reported that he and another player (Justin Houston of the University of Georgia) had tested positive for marijuana.^[3] 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 4th round of the 2011 NFL Draft despite performing very well at the NFL Combine and receiving such high marks from draft analysts such as Kiper and Todd Mcshay.

References

1. ^ NFL Draft Scout
2. ^ "Rivals.com". http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=584590. 
3. ^ "CBSSports.com". http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/28834259. 

External links

• Iowa Hawkeyes bio

Persondata
Name	Ballard, Christian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 3, 1989
Place of birth	New Port News, Virginia
Date of death
Place of death