Broncos Training Camp: Running Backs battling

Montee Ball

Sep 7, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos running back Montee Ball (28) runs with the ball during the first half against the against the Indianapolis Colts at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Ball, the much more heralded prospect coming out of college compared to C.J. Anderson, took a fall off of a steep cliff in his sophomore season after a solid rookie campaign.

Entering the offseason as the unquestioned starter and lead candidate for breakout, Ball required an appendectomy early in training camp, and wound up not returning fully healthy at the start of the regular season. The aftermath of Ball’s appendectomy was such that he looked stiff, wasn’t explosive out of the backfield, and could barely find his way back to the line of scrimmage.

A lot of that had to do with the offensive line taking a lot of time to mesh, but Ball simply wasn’t very good coming off of that procedure.

This offseason, he appeared to be in much better physical shape, and Gary Kubiak has been raving about him to the point that he refuses to say Ball doesn’t have a shot at taking Anderson’s starting job. Apparently, he’s been really impressive. I’ll be excited to see, because it appeared after a very good rookie season that Ball was on his way to being the featured back of this team.