Broncos running back Montee Ball came into the 2014 season with high hopes after rushing for 4.7 yards per carry as a rookie on a team that went to the Super Bowl.
Those hopes went unrealized. A preseason appendectomy limited Ball’s preparation for the season and he struggled early in the season before suffering a groin injury that would ultimately end his season. In the interim, C.J. Anderson took over as the starting running back and ran for 785 yards over the final eight weeks of the season to take over the starting job.
Ball said he felt that he returned too quickly from the surgery, a decision that he feels contributed the groin injury, and has spent the early part of the offseason working to get himself in the best shape possible. Now he’s at minicamp and working to unseat Anderson.
“C.J. deserves the No. 1 spot right now. I’m most definitely going to try to work to get it back. And I believe that I will,” Ball said, via the Associated Press. “I like coming in and being the underdog, just keeping my head down, my mouth shut and just working.”
It doesn’t help Ball’s cause that Anderson looks like a good fit for what Gary Kubiak’s offense asks of running backs, but the history of running backs in Denver and around the league is one filled with rapid changes of fortunes. Ball knows that well after last season and he’s banking on another moving him back into the forefront.
