Wisconsin Football: Is There More Pressure on Montee Ball This Season Than Last?

Retired NBA star Robert Horry once said, "Pressure can burst a pipe or pressure can make a diamond."

In Montee Ball's case, can pressure also lead to a Heisman? 

With a healthy host of former Wisconsin playmakers off to the NFL, Ball will be expected to carry the ball and the Badgers in 2012. What's more, the senior is expected to contend with his own prolific 2011 season, as all eyes will be squarely on him. 

Montee Ball, by all measures of a student-athlete, is above average. His intelligence is always underscored by how articulate he is in interviews, his tenacity was clearly evident in the 2010 win in Iowa City and despite a recent run-in with the police, he has never been in trouble. That all gets diminished if the Badgers lose their winning ways and Ball cannot find an answer for one of the best seasons in the history of college football. 

So when analysts ask if pressure will be a factor for Ball, the answer is "yes." It will always be "yes." Will there be more pressure than last year? Yes again.  

Pressure to perform is what keeps practice squad All-Stars off the field on Saturday. Elite athletes stare expectation in the face every day, and the great ones find ways to meet and exceed predictions time and time again. Pressure is simply a part of the competitive equation and the Wisconsin tailback knows this better than most. 

When Ball walked away from the NFL to return to Wisconsin, he did not do it blindly. He was well aware of who would be in his locker room in 2012 and who would not be. He knew what he was losing up front, in the slot and under center. Yet the Missouri native chose to remain a college athlete for another season. That simple act shows the man is ready to embrace the full glare of the spotlight.

Fans would be foolish to think that Ball will equal his historic 2011 season. 2012 will hold many new challenges to overcome, including a new coaching staff and new personnel.

Will pressure be a factor?

Of course it will; the real question will be whether it makes a diamond or bursts a pipe.