Under Dave Ball’s picture in the UCLA Football Media Guide, next to hobbies is the word “drawing.”
Dave Ball is an artiste. And not just in the way he artfully dives over running backs and crawls on all fours to sack opposing quarterbacks.
Dave Ball likes to doodle in class.
“It’s not like I have an easel at home,” the senior defensive end said.
Ball’s propensity for outlandish statements and interesting extracurriculars has earned him a reputation as the class clown of the UCLA football team. Ball said that some of the media attention he garners comes because he is willing to say things outside of the typical clichés athletes spew in interviews.
But he’s also getting some attention for his on-field abilities.
Ball leads the nation with 11.5 sacks this season, and is closing in on the UCLA single-season record, held by Carnell Lake with 13. With 25.5 sacks on his career he is just one sack away from the school record held by Eric Smith. With four regular-season games left, it is only a matter of time before Ball eclipses the mark.
The Bruins face a weak Stanford team (2-4, 0-4 Pac-10) this Saturday, a perfect opportunity for the Dixon, Calif. native to etch his name into the UCLA record books. Ball said he does not think too much about the records, but someone who knows him quite well – his twin brother, teammate Mat Ball – knows how important they are to him.
“It is important to the defense and to Dave,” said Mat Ball, who plays alongside his brother at defensive end. “Dave is a great player and he wants to be remembered as such.”
Dave Ball came very close to a sack in UCLA’s victory over Arizona State last Saturday. Late in the game, Ball got two hands on Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller and was about to bring him to the ground when Keller threw the ball away.
“He felt warm and smushy,” Ball said of Keller.
Last season, Ball blossomed – or “went through puberty,” as he has said – and was named second-team All-Pac-10 as he recorded 11.5 sacks on the season. For his efforts this season, Ball has been named one of 12 semifinalists for the 34th Rotary Lombardi Award, an award given to the nation’s top lineman.
In regard to the honor, Ball told The Los Angeles Times, “The main part is I’ve got to get ready for the swimsuit competition. That’s what I need to work on.”
Ball makes sacking a quarterback look simple, but in reality, it is not just the effort of one player, but a coordinated assault – with everyone from the cornerbacks to the linebackers participating – that makes a sack possible.
Oh, and a sack feels nice.
“It’s nice to have you do something that’s good,” Ball said.
“If you were a newspaper man, it would be like getting the article of the week award,” he said.
If there is a knock against the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Ball, it is that he is not fast enough to be a successful pass rusher in the NFL.
“That sounds more like a professional scout type of assessment,” UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell said. “I think he’s fast enough. He’s proven he can rush the passer. He’s been able to do that consistently. Sometimes when you make measurements on a kid – height, weight, speed, jump – that doesn’t measure how good of a football player he is. And I can tell you that Dave Ball is an excellent football player. The kid can play.”
For Ball, playing in the NFL has been a lifelong dream. While that might be the kind of cliché that Ball loathes, he is unsure about what career he would pursue after the NFL, something many successful young athletes don’t bother to ponder.
“I don’t look down the road, I don’t know what is coming,” said Ball, a history student that enjoys contemporary United States history.
“I tell people I am going to be a historian.”
While playing in the NFL could be a reality for Ball, if he needs some career advice, teammate and friend Blane Kezirian thinks Ball could make some excellent, weird television commercials.
Years from now, whether Ball is a historian, commercial guru or an NFL star, he said he would get a kick out of seeing his name on the Rose Bowl big screen in a trivia question about UCLA’s sack record-holder.
“Unless some other joker has gotten it,” he said.
Ball may set records, but it is a safe bet that one day, they will be broken.
But probably not by another joker.