Former Denver Broncos running back Montee Ball in an interview with Sporting News earlier this week.
Ball, 26, said he began drinking in 2011 while at the University of Wisconsin and regularly drank excessively four days a week while playing for the Broncos. Ball said he was into the Denver club scene and was hanging out with people who didn’t have his best interest at heart, ignoring warnings from the Broncos and the NFL.
Running backs coach Eric Studesville smelled alcohol on Ball at one point and pulled him aside after a team meeting, offering help, but Ball declined.
The former second-round pick was and signed to the Patriots’ practice squad. After he was , Ball watched from jail as his former Broncos teammates won Super Bowl 50.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” . “At one point, I was on top of the world and now watching the team that cut me a few months prior from a jail cell, that stung a lot.”
Ball said he hit rock bottom when for drinking in a bar in Whitewater, Wis., violating his bond.
The former Wisconsin star told Sporting News he began to turn his life around about a year ago after seeing his newborn son, Maverick Ball.
“That was the turning point,” Ball told Sporting News. “I finally realized I have a purpose — to raise that kid. That’s a responsibility I will take.”
Facing charges in , Ball took a plea deal last August and , which he served on house arrest.
Ball said he is sober now and has resumed taking classes at the University of Wisconsin, according to the report. He’s working on a book and plans to tell his story to young athletes.
