Ohio High School Football Receiver Stephon Ball

Wide receiver Stephon Ball attends top football prep school St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he will be a senior in the fall. He stands six-foot-four inches, and he weighs in at 245 pounds. His forty can be completed in 4.61 seconds. Ball's vertical jump is 31 inches, he can shuttle in 4.34 seconds, and this 2008 prospect benches a maximum of 245 pounds. He also carries a 2.9 grade-point average at St. Xavier. Football is in Ball's blood - he is the son of former NFL player Eric Ball, a running back and kick return specialist for the Cincinnati Bengals team from 1989 until 1994, and a football player at UCLA.

Ball has had to overcome a lot of adversity, losing the majority of his junior year, and compared to other prospective recruits for the 2008 football season, this wide receiver has a lot of catching up to do. During the summer of 2006, Ball injured his knee during a workout, bruising his my fibula and tearing his meniscus, and this caused him to be absent from all but one regular season game his junior year. In the games he played in fall 2006 - the final regular game of the season and two playoff games - he was able to get five passes, one reception, and three yards. Rivals.com gave him a 5.1 ranking out of 6.1 and also gave him two stars out of five.

Because he missed the majority of his junior year due to his knee injury, Stephon Ball is using camps to show off his football skills and to attract the attention he needs to get noticed. He attended football camps at both Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio) and received offers from the two schools. He has some interest in Louisville, although they have yet to give him what he is looking for. Other programs that have given Ball an offer include Murray State and Western Michigan. His choices for college ball also include Virginia and the Big Ten's Michigan and Michigan State, and all three of these schools have had visits with him earlier this year.

Expectations are that Stephon Ball may be recruited as a tight end for the 2008 season. ESPN's recruiting web site notes that he has "great size, long arms and the ability to elevate and pluck the high ball," although it also says his speed does not make him a "vertical threat."