After going to high school in the Northern California town of Dixon, David Ball traveled downstate to UCLA, where he was a three-year starter at defensive end, collected 30.5 sacks, and was a first-team All-American as a senior in 2003.

Ball kept moving down the Pacific Coast Highway the following year after being chosen in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by San Diego.

Playing in six games as a rookie, he broke a bone in his foot against Atlanta in Week 6 and had to have season-ending surgery in October. He then had back surgery in December and shoulder surgery the following month.

Not what anyone would want to go through, he seemingly spent more time during the start of his professional career in the operating room than the locker room.

"It was probably the first time I'd ever kind o

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