While not having the record season he had last year, ball has been pretty solid. He’s already amassed over 1200 yards and 16 touchdowns. He won’t get to the 33 scores from last year, but he will finish with respectable numbers.

With all that said, where does he stack up in the 2013 draft class of running backs?

Well his coach says that he is #1:

“I’ve had several guys comment to me this year that they thought he’s the first back to go in this year’s draft,” Bielema said. “Many make the statement without a doubt.”

“Again, there are a lot of good players around him, but I think Montee is going to be very, very happy on draft day.”

My thoughts: of course Bill Bielema is supposed to say that. He sees Montee every day and sees the work he puts in. Now what he probably hasn’t taken in consideration is the things all draft pundits tend to over analyze. You know, things like speed, agility, vision, injury risk, etc.

In my humble opinion Montee is the third best back in this class at best behind backs like Le’Veon Bell and Andre Ellington. That isn’t bad though. Montee will probably be a third or fourth round pick and be productive in the league even if he never becomes a superstar.

During a tough touchdown run Montee took a blow to the head, and it ended his day early:

Wisconsin RB Monte Ball will not return to game vs UTEP after suffering a head injury in 2nd quarter. #UTEPvsWIS es.pn/QuCF2R

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 22, 2012

This is a weird case but here are the details:

Wendell J. Venerable, Deonte J. Wilson and Robert A. Wilks, all 21 years old, were taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with substantial battery-party to a crime. No formal charges have been filed, though.

Ball suffered a concussion and a bruised jaw in the assault and missed the first week of preseason camp. A witness to the attack reported to police that he heard something along the lines of “one down, nine to go” by one of the assailants, possibly in reference to other UW football players.

Montee claims:

“I went out with a few friends. We weren’t getting rowdy or anything,” Ball said. “I was heading right back to my place a block away and I was attacked. That’s all I remember.”

So Montee is going with the amnesia defense. It is better to just not say anything if you are in any way guilty… I’m sure all of the events that led up to this are on camera. Police just have to find out where the tapes are.

If only Montee took my advice of sticking to the Fifth Amendment…

Now the Heisman candidate may be in hot water if he gave any false information to authorities (yes, thats illegal). TMZ reports:

“The Madison Police Department, through information developed by detectives, have determined that there was a fight that occurred Friday night (July 27th-28th) which involved UW students, members of the UW football team, and other individuals that were not affiliated with the University of Wisconsin’s Athletics Department. We have also determined that Montee Ball was present at the location of that fight, but we have no information that leads us to believe that he had any involvement in that particular event.

“There was one individual that did sustain an injury during the fight, and was subsequently treated at a local hospital for that injury. There is a potential for charges to be pursued, related to the investigated fight, but no charges have been filed. As this investigation is ongoing, specific details outlining the identities of either victims or involved parties are not being released.”

Updated Advice to Monty: if you lied, COME CLEAN and play the scared kid card! And if you did ANYTHING illegal to any of those five guys retain a lawyer RIGHT NOW!

Here is the thing, if you are involved in an incident like this chances are there are cameras that recorded you earlier in the night so if Ball did anything it is on camera somewhere. The police know better than to take the word of a football player (with a lot of draft stock to lose).

The first and most important detail was the Ball is going to be okay, but as police look into the situation, there are naturally other components of the story that develop — like motive. The Wisconsin State Journal is reporting that Madison police are looking into a “precipitating event” that may have led to Ball’s attack. From the paper:

Central District Capt. Carl Gloede said Thursday police were still trying to find out what that incident was, when and where it happened, what Ball’s involvement might have been, and whether other football players were involved.

A witness to the attack on Ball by five men at about 2:15 a.m. in the 500 block of University Avenue said one of the assailants said something like, “One down, nine to go,” Gloede said, suggesting others might have been targeted.

Advice to Montee: when in doubt, FIFTH AMENDMENT! DONT SAY SHHHHH

Here is the police report:

A 21-year old man was attacked while walking in the 500 block of University Ave. early this morning. Witnesses said five men jumped the victim. He was knocked to the ground and kicked. The victim was taken to a hospital with head injuries. It does not appear he knew his attackers and this is being investigated as an unprovoked assault. The criminals were last seen running south on N. Frances St. toward the Kohl Center.