Marcus Ball, the former Stephenson High star from Stone Mountain, is at the center of the Carolina Panthers “batgate” scandal.
Ball, who’s a defensive back on the Panthers’ practice squad, has been linked to holding the black baseball bat and having a “conversation” New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Sunday.
The Panthers’ defensive backs contend that they have been carrying their bat on the field as a symbol for making “home run” plays. Panthers cornerback Bene Benwikere carried the bat onto the Bank of America field before blasting the Falcons’ 38-0 on Dec. 13.
“We were going to hit and stick everything we see,” cornerback Josh Norman told the Charlotte Observer. “We get a big play. We’re going to try to get a home run.”
The Panthers’ antices are “under review” by the league.
Norman, who was the target of most the incidents, was seen on video before the game gripping the bat and taking a slight swing. Ball is also seen with the bat on the field while the active players were stretching.
In the game on Sunday, Beckham, according to the Panthers instigated 12 of 14 incidents on the field, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Beckham, who was suspended for one game by the league, was penalized three times for unnecessary roughness, including a late helmet-to-helmet hit against a defenseless player in which Beckham left his feet prior to contact to spring forward and upward into his opponent, lowered his helmet and initiated forcible contact with his helmet, and forcibly struck the defenseless player’s head, according to the NFL.
The suspension hurts the Falcons, who need the New York Giants to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Beckham plans to appeal the suspension.
This “blindside block” was particularly flagrant because Beckham, with a 10-yard running start, had an unobstructed path to his opponent, the position of the opponent was not impacted by any other player, and the contact with the head/neck was avoidable, the league concluded.
The suspension was imposed by Merton Hanks, the NFL’s vice president of operations. Hanks concluded that Beckham’s actions placed his opponents at unnecessary risk of injury and should have been avoided.
In a letter to Beckham, Hanks wrote, “At numerous times during yesterday’s game against the Carolina Panthers, your actions placed a fellow player at unnecessary risk…and clearly did not represent the high standards of sportsmanship expected.”
Rivals.com rated Ball as the No. 1 player in the state as a high school senior in 2005, after he made 136 tackles as a junior. After his senior season, Ball signed with Florida State over Florida, Miami and Virginia Tech in a hotly contested recruiting battle.
Ball played as a freshmen and sophomore and appeared on his way to stardom when he became engulfed in an academic scandal that rocked the Florida State athletic department in 2007. After a stopover at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, he resurfaced at Memphis in 2009 and 2010, where he received a multiple-game suspension in the latter part of his senior season.
After three college stops and a stint in the Canadian Football League, Ball signed with the New Orleans Saints.
He helped the Toronto Argonauts win the 100th Grey Cup in 2012.
Ball is the younger brother of former Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball and former Chattanooga defensive back Raeshon Ball.
