Jason Ball is an admitted draftnik.
Each year he parks his 6-foot-2, 300-pound 4-X-4 of a body in front of the TV set and tunes into the NFL Draft. He watches all seven rounds. Mel Kiper, Jr. might be the person in history he would most like to meet.
Ball has draft preview magazines, pens, markers and a pad at his disposal. Each time a player gets drafted, he crosses off the name, jots down which team he was selected by, and focuses on the next pick.
“If I wasn’t in the draft this year, I’d be one of those guys in New York with my face painted,” Ball told The Post.
When asked what colors – the green and white of the Jets or the blue and red of the Giants – Ball showed he’s as politically correct as he is strong. Ball can squat your grandfather’s Caddy – the one with the fins.
“All four colors,” he said. “I would just love to be there.”
What Ball would love more is for his name to be called and it almost surely will be. The New Hampshire center is one of those gritty, tough, smart, intense players who will likely be picked in the lower rounds and 14 years or so from now will still be playing on Sundays.
“He’s one of those relentless guys you just like to have on your team,” said one NFL head coach who has been afflicted with Draft Paranoia and asked to remain anonymous. “He plays every play. If he had played against a higher level of competition, he’ll probably go in the first three rounds.”
Ball had chances to play Division I-A ball; lot’s of them. But coming out of New Hampshire, not exactly the Texas of high school football, he worried if a I-A school would find him.
So when Division I-AA New Hampshire offered a full ride, Ball signed early. Then he displayed that increasingly rare trait known as loyalty. He told five Big East, two Big Ten and one ACC team that he was sticking to his commitment to New Hampshire.
Ball said the Jets, Giants, Dolphins, Jaguars and Eagles have shown the most interest.
“It would be great to be drafted by either of those teams but just to get picked would be something special,” said Ball.