Ohio QB - Scouting Report

A quarterback to watch in 2003 will be Ohio's Ron Ball. Here's our scouting report on the big signal caller from Carroll.

I spend a lot of time in college football offices around the country. One question I always ask the coaches is ‘What do you want to see when a prospect sends you a game film.’

To a man, all want to see 10-12 highlight plays that will make them say ‘Wow, this is a guy we need to look at further.’

I recently put in a highlight film of Carroll (Ohio) Bloom Carroll quarterback Ron Ball and although I thought Ball was a very good athlete, he didn’t make me say “Wow!”

It could have been that I just got done watching quarterback Chase Patton, who I feel is one of the best in the country at his position.

The 6-foot-5, 228-pounder, is athletic for his size, he showed nice poise in the pocket. Ball shows some elusiveness and although he’s not going to burn people with his speed, he is capable of picking up yardage on the ground.

Ball definitely has the capability to play Division-1 football but I didn’t see him make the throws necessary to play at college football highest level.

He has the arm strength to throw the deep ball and he showed some touch on his passes. What I didn’t see, was the zip on the ball, that he’ll need to be a D-1 quarterback. Can he throw the sideline route with zip? That’s the big question mark. I didn’t see the velocity that I saw with Chase Patton, Brian Hoyer or Mike Vlahogeorge.

Ron Ball definitely has strong leadership skills, the intelligence and the character to be a leader of a football team.

In conclusion, it’s a great year for quarterbacks in the Midwest and around the nation as well. Ron Ball has the size to play D-1 quarterback but he’ll need to show his arm strength in camps and during the 2003 season.

Ball is a definite MAC or 1-AA quarterback that has the potential to play at the Big Ten level.