ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos running back Montee Ball will be playing for the highest stakes in Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2 against friend and former college teammate, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
The two played together at the University of Wisconsin, but Ball said he made it a point not to stay in touch during the season.
“Once the season started no texting, none of that,’’ Ball, a rookie, said of Wilson, who’s in his second season in Seattle. “But beforehand, yeah [we kept in touch], because of the great relationship we had in college. At times, I would ask him — once he took off — how the NFL was and all that stuff. But right now, he’s the enemy.”
Ball, backing up Knowshon Moreno, ran for 559 yards and a 4.7-yard average while scoring four rushing touchdowns this season. Ball was the 58th overall pick in last spring’s draft after setting an NCAA FBS record for rushing touchdowns with 77 and total TDs with 83.
Through some of that standout career, Wilson was the man handing him the ball, and Ball said he was not surprised at how quickly Wilson found success in Seattle.
“Back when he was with me at Wisconsin, he displayed great qualities of a quarterback and I’m sure he’s doing the same thing over there [in Seattle],” Ball said. “As soon as he got there, he was walking around with note cards with the plays on them and stuff like that. I was like, ‘OK, this guy is really serious.’
“Based on his history, based on what we’d heard of him and based on the first couple practices we had, we were like, ‘OK, we need to follow this guy.’ He’s had that mind-set his whole life. He has done some great things.’’
Ball said he’s relying on advice given by his team’s own quarterback, Peyton Manning, about how to handle the pressures of Super Bowl week.
“The overall message is that you have to stay focused because there are a lot of distractions coming our way, especially when we land in New York,’’ he said. “There is going to be media all over the place, fans trying to grab you here and there. We just have to stay focused and remember why we’re there.
“For us, we are just focused on what we can control. But it definitely helps that [Manning] has won it before because he understands what it took and he told us throughout that week of preparation what was being done in the locker room and out on the practice field, which carried on to the field.”