http://www.fredericksburg.com/sport...cle_9b88fa45-d0c8-5f68-993c-6c8b73c9850f.html
The weight limitations in Stafford County Parks & Recreation football precluded Josh Ball from playing throughout his childhood.
But Ball was on the mound as a Little League pitcher when an assistant coach from the newly formed American Youth Football All-American division recognized his size and athleticism.
Ball stood 5-foot-11 and weighed 218 pounds as a seventh-grader.
There were no weight restrictions in AYF so Ball was free to pursue the sport that always intrigued him most.
“It was a shame because I really wanted to play football,” Ball said. “So I was excited when they came up with AYF and an unlimited weight class. It was awesome.”
Ball played for the Stafford Tigers AYF team and for Dixon–Smith Middle School in the seventh and eighth grades. He’s now a standout junior offensive tackle for Stafford High. He’s 6-foot-7, 310 pounds and one of the most sought-after recruits in Virginia.
Ball has 17 Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offers, and with the 2015 National Signing Day passing on Wednesday he’s looking ahead to the day he inks a letter of intent next winter.
“I don’t think I ever envisioned him being where he’s at now,” said his father, Jeff Ball.
Ball received his first scholarship offer from Old Dominion during his sophomore year. Since then interest from college coaches has skyrocketed.
Ball has been rated a four-star prospect by recruiting service
Rovals. He has picked up offers from Illinois, Iowa, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt in the last month alone.
Ball has been targeted by Virginia and Virginia Tech. He visited the Hokies for their Junior Day festivities on Saturday. Ball said he plans to make a college decision before his senior year begins so he can focus strictly on helping the Indians rebound from a 1–9 2014 campaign.
Stafford coach Chad Lewis, who coached two future NFL players in Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith and New York Jets cornerback Dexter McDougle, said Ball is the most highly recruited player the Indians have had in his tenure.
“We’ve had guys who were heavily recruited but with Josh more head coaches have come by and talked to us than with anybody we’ve had,” Lewis said. “You’re talking coaches from all different types of conferences that have come through.”
Lewis said there is good reason Ball’s so highly regarded. He said he has the talent, work ethic and humble persona that will take him a long way. He said Ball has improved each season and is now leading the rest of the team in offseason workouts.
He said Ball’s athleticism is uncommon for a high school player his size. In addition to pitching, Ball played third base and first base in Little League baseball. He also played basketball for the Indians’ freshman team two years ago and is considering returning to hoops next season.
“You just don’t find many kids being his size and only being a junior in high school that can bend the way he can bend and has his type of footwork,” Lewis said. “Most kids don’t develop that until their junior year in college and he’s a junior in high school. I think that’s why he’s so heavily recruited.”
Jeff Ball said size runs in his family. He’s 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds. He said his grandfather was a 6-foot-7, 310-pound coal miner from Pennsylvania.
“He walked with a crook in his neck because the ceilings in the coal mines were so low,” Jeff Ball said of his grandfather.
The ceiling for Josh Ball is just the opposite. Lewis believes with another year of development there will be no limit to his potential.
“He’s just made huge leaps and bounds every year,” Lewis said. “He’s also a tremendous young man and student. He doesn’t have a big head about him. He walks the halls like a regular kid but he’s a 6–7 kid with great potential. He’s going to have a heck of a future.”
Man I hate them!
