100 Days of Florida Football: No. 11 Neiron Ball

Florida linebacker Neiron Ball‘s journey has been one of triumph and success. Ball was a highly recruited pass rusher from Georgia and had a promising career outlook in his first year with the Gators, but that all changed in the summer between his freshman and sophomore season. Ball checked into the Shands with bleeding on his brain in February of 2011, forcing him to miss the entire season. He’s rebounded nicely and has put together a solid career for UF since.

Jackson, GA is a small city between Macon and Atlanta. It’s also the place where Ball grew up and played football. Playing for Jackson High School, Ball put up video game numbers his junior season. He racked up 104 tackles, including 35 tackles-for-loss and 19 sacks, and forced seven fumbles. His performance that season put him on the radar for most college programs. He followed that up with a senior campaign that saw him bring home Georgia Class AAA First-Team All-State defensive line honors by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Ball garnered attention from major schools, including Florida, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina, but decided to attend UF. After playing for the Red Devils, Ball was rated as a four-star prospect, ranked as the 20th weak side defensive end, 27th Georgian, and 280th overall player of the 2010 recruiting cycle, according to 247Sports composite ratings. He enrolled early in January of 2010, giving him a head start on other recruits.

In his first season with the Gators, Ball played on special teams in all 13 games of the season. He helped clear the path for kickoff returns and even made some tackles on kickoffs. For the season, he tallied 10 tackles as he showed off his skills.

Everything pointed to a big sophomore year, but one day during spring practice Ball had to leave with an excruciating migraine. A few hours later, Ball checked himself into a hospital where he found out he had bleeding on the brain. He played his entire career not knowing that he had a congenital condition known as arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which is a tangling of blood vessels. The blood vessels had ruptured, causing unbearable pain and pressure in Ball’s head. Once he stabilized after a couple of weeks, a team of neurosurgeons performed stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), a non-invasive procedure to help with his condition. Ball and everyone else though his career was over. They needed at least a year to make sure the AVM had shrunk or disappeared. After an MRI over a year later, Ball was finally cleared to play football again.

Ball worked hard to get back into game shape for the 2012 season and finally saw some time on defense. As a linebacker, Ball wrapped up 10 tackles and recovered two fumbles. He also nabbed his first interception against his hometown team Georgia. He was named a finalist for the 2012 Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion Award, a testament to his triumph over AVM. Ball followed that season up with a successful redshirt junior year. He played in all 12 games, starting seven of them, and racked up 25 tackles including his first career sack against Heisman Trophy winner and Florida State QB Jameis Winston. Ball took home the Gators’ Chris Patrick Courage Award for his efforts on the field and overcoming his medical challenges off of it.

With the 2014 season just 11 days away, Ball is now firmly Florida’s starting SAM LB. He’s got the heart and the skills to be one of the leaders on this defense. His decision to not give up on his dream to play football despite serious health problems is one that Gator and football fans around the country should applaud. Neiron Ball is an inspiration to anyone that’s faced adversity and had their dream taken away from them. Now, with a good season, Ball could be looking at fully fulfilling that dream by playing in the NFL.

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