Montee Ball: Wisconsin Badgers Star Returning, but Will He Capture 2012 Heisman?

Badger Nation, rejoice! Montee Ball is running back to Wisconsin.

The 5'1"1 junior from Wentzville, Missouri announced at a press conference on Wednesday that he will pass on the 2012 NFL draft. He would've likely been an early-round pick, albeit behind the likes of Alabama's Trent Richardson and Miami's Lamar Miller.

Not that draft status was ever a concern for Ball.

He finished fourth in the voting for the 2011 Heisman Trophy, with Baylor's Robert Griffin III, Stanford's Andrew Luck and Richardson picking up more ballots.

Ball's return to Madison will help the Badgers overcome the loss of yet another quarterback (Russell Wilson) while throwing his hat into the ring for the 2012 Heisman race. He led the nation in rushing with 1,923 yards, along with another 306 yards receiving. He also tied Barry Sanders' single-season touchdown record with 39 scores—33 on the ground and six through the air.

He'll start the 2012 college football season atop the heap of potential strike-posers, alongside the likes of USC's Matt Barkley, Clemson's Sammy Watkins and Tajh Boyd, Michigan's Denard Robinson, LSU's Tyrann Mathieu and West Virginia's Geno Smith, among others. The field may grow even more crowded if Richardson, Griffin III and Oregon's LaMichael James decide to skip the draft and return to school.

Even so, Ball will have a golden opportunity to return to New York City for the Heisman ceremony in December. He'll be the best player on a Wisconsin team that should capture the Big Ten Leaders Division quite handily—ahead of bowl-banned Ohio State, rebuilding Penn State and Illinois, slowly-improving Purdue and doormat Indiana—and, as a result, will be in position to challenge for the conference title at season's end.

A third consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl would do wonders for Ball's candidacy, though voters would be all the more inclined to call Ball's name if he can carry the Badgers to South Beach for the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

Ball will be hard-pressed to duplicate in 2012 the fantastic numbers he put together in 2011. Then again, with the Badgers offense bound to lean so heavily on him and the schedule as favorable as it is, another Heisman-worthy season with 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 30 or more touchdowns isn't exactly unfathomable.

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