Something didn't feel right to Montee Ball as he said good-bye to his grandfather before leaving for Madison this summer.

"The sad thing about it is, I had a feeling that was going to be the last time," said Ball, a true freshman tailback for the University of Wisconsin football team. "Something was telling me to savor the moment."

Ball is glad he did. Norman Ray Ball Sr. died last month after suffering an apparent heart attack.

The two were close. They lived just three minutes apart in Wentzville, Mo., which made it easy when Montee Ball needed to run over to his grandpa's place to run an errand. They were also fishing buddies; those bonding experiences were even more special because they included Montee Ball Sr.

But most of all, Montee Ball's grandpa was one of his biggest fans. Despite failing health, Ray Ball, who went by his middle name, was a fixture for four seasons at Timberland High School football games.

"He would make it to the games when he had a bad leg and when he would have chest pains," said Ball, who rushed for 8,222 yards and 107 touchdowns during his outstanding prep career at Timberland. "He'd be sitting out in the rain, watching me."

It's a shame Ray Ball never got to see his grandson fulfill his dream of playing college football. Montee Ball made his collegiate debut at Minnesota on Oct. 3, just more than two weeks after his grandpa passed away.

Ray Ball would have been proud of his grandson, especially last Saturday at Ohio Stadium. Ball had three carries for 19 yards and two receptions for 22 yards in the Badgers' 31-13 loss to Ohio State.

Ball felt a lot more comfortable than he did a week earlier at TCF Bank Stadium, where he finished with only five yards on four carries in what turned out to be an eye-opening experience.

"As far as I was concerned, there was no better test than to put him in a rivalry game, a tough situation, crowd noise, hostile environment, just to let him get a feel and a taste of what Big Ten football is all about," said UW running backs coach John Settle, who showed how much trust he had in Ball by letting him carry the ball late in the game as the Badgers were trying to run out the clock during their 31-28 victory over the Golden Gophers.

"I think the handful of reps he had against Minnesota helped him last week when we went to Columbus."

Ball was preparing to play the week leading up to UW's non-conference victory over Wofford on Sept. 19 before a series of events led to him missing the game. That was the week his grandpa died; on the same day, Montee Ball was diagnosed with pneumonia.

After attending the funeral in Wentzville, which is about 40 miles northwest of St. Louis, Ball returned to Madison but didn't play in the Big Ten opener against Michigan State. He sat down with UW coach Bret Bielema the week before the Minnesota game and discussed whether he should redshirt with one-third of the regular season already in the books.

Bielema felt Ball could still be a factor in the tailback rotation.

"I was basically behind him the whole way," Ball said. "I said to him, 'You know when I'm ready, and I'm just going to follow you.' "

All that was left was for Ball to prove during practice that he deserved playing time on Saturdays.

"We just wanted to make sure that his mind was right," Settle said. "All along, we believed that he would be a guy who would play and help us win. All indications from the first two outings are that he is going to be an impact player."

Ball looks natural as a receiver out of the backfield even though he wasn't used that way much in high school. Timberland quarterbacks spent the better part of four seasons handing the ball off to Ball, who had nearly 1,000 career rushing attempts in high school.

But Ball showed early in preseason training camp that he had good hands.

"All indications in camp were that we could throw him the ball out of the backfield and he would catch it and do something with it," Settle said.

Ball's role might be expanded this week because junior Zach Brown sustained a concussion against Ohio State and is questionable for Saturday's game against Iowa, which also recruited Ball.

That Ball didn't flinch in front of 105,301 fans at Ohio Stadium last Saturday was a good sign to the coaching staff that he's ready for the bigger workload.

But Ball wouldn't take all the credit for his performance against the Buckeyes. He said he had extra motivation to play well.

"I just knew he was watching," Ball said of his grandpa. "That game was for him."

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