2012 HOUSTON TEXANS MEDIA GUIDE - Parent Directory - NFL.com

ALAN BALLCORNERBACKHeight: 6-2 | Weight: 197 | College: Illinois |Hometown: Detroit, Mich. | 6th NFL Season |1st with Texans | Age as of Kickoff Weekend 2012: 27 |Acquired: UFA-’12 | 2012 GP/GS: 0/0 | Career GP/GS: 60/21 |Teams: Dallas 2007-11; Houston, 2012 |TRANSACTIONS:Selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round (237 th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft…Waived bythe Cowboys on Sept. 2, 2007… Signed by Cowboys to the practice squad on Sept. 4, 2007… Activatedby Cowboys from practice squad to active roster on Dec. 11, 2007… Signed by the Houston Texans as anunrestricted free agent on June 4, 2012.CAREER:• Has appeared in 60 career games with 21 starts totaling 101 tackles (86 solo), three interceptionsand one forced and recovered fumble2011 (Dallas 16/2):• Saw action in all 16 games with two stars, finishing with 32 tackles (26 solo), one interception anda career-high six passes defensed• Made his first start of the season at San Francisco (9/18) and made four solo tackles andintercepted a pass• Had four solo tackles and assisted on a special teams tackle vs. Washington (9/26)• Started vs. Buffalo (11/13) and finished with four tackles (three solo) and one pass defensed• Mad three solo tackles and added a special teams tackle in the season finale at the New YorkGiants (1/1/12)2010 (Dallas 16/16):• Started at free safety for all 16 games, finishing with 50 tackles, a half sack, one pressure, twointerceptions, five deflections and two forced fumbles• Opened the season at Washington (9/12) with a then career-best six tackles along with a passbreakup and the first forced fumble of his career.• Had three tackles in the home opener while helping hold Chicago (9/19) to one-of-11 (9.1%) onthird downs• Made a single-game career-best nine tackles against Jacksonville (10/31)• Had a tackle, a pressure and split a sack at Green Bay (11/7)• Tallied five tackles, forced a fumble and made his first career interception at the New York Giants(11/14)• Had two tackles, two breakups and his second interception of the season in the overtime win atIndianapolis (12/5)2009 (Dallas 16/3):• Played in all 16 games with his first three career starts, switching to safety and finished the yearwith 19 tackles, four passes defensed and was third on the team with 16 special teams tackles• Had his first defensive tackle of the season and served as special teams captain vs. Carolina (9/28)• Tied for the team lead with three special teams stops to go with two tackles on defense in theovertime win at Kansas City (10/11)• Broke up one pass to go with a special teams tackle against Atlanta (10/25) before tying his seasonhigh, and leading the team, with three special teams tackles against Seattle (11/1)• Made his first career start at safety and had three tackles with one pass deflection againstWashington (11/22)• Posted a season-best four tackles and a breakup in a start vs. Diego (12/13)• Was the special teams captain at Washington (12/27)• Was the special teams captain in the Wild Card Playoff Game against Philadelphia (1/9/10) andhad one stop in his postseason debut2008 (Dallas 10/0):• Opened the season at Cleveland (9/7) playing on special teams• Saw his first action of the season on defense and had three tackles against Tampa Bay (10/26)• Added a defensive stop at the N.Y. Giants (11/12)• Had a season and career-high three special teams tackles against Seattle on Thanksgiving Day(11/27).• Had his first career pass breakup at Pittsburgh (12/7) followed by two tackles against the New YorkGiants (12/14)• Was inactive the final two games of the season with an ankle injury2007 (Dallas 2/0):• Spent the first 14 weeks of the season on the team’s practice squad• Saw his first action in the NFL at Carolina (12/22) recording one special teams tackle• Recorded his first career tackle at Washington (12/30)COLLEGE:• Finished his collegiate career at Illinois with 199 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, two interceptions,23 passes defensed and one forced fumble.• Had a career-high 62 tackles, three tackles for a loss, one interception and 13 passes defensed asa senior.• Named the team’s outstanding defensive back at the end of his junior season, playing in all 11games, with seven starts, and leading the team with 55 total tackles.• As a sophomore, made 10 starts and had 37 tackles, one pass defensed and one tackle for a loss.• Recorded at least one tackle in every game he played that season.• As a freshman, played in seven games, including five starts, and recorded 44 tackles, four passesHEADERTEXANS BIOS36defensed and one forced fumble.PERSONAL:• Alan Ball attended St. Martin De Porres in Detroit, Mich., for two years, earning PrepStar andSuperPrep all-region selection and being named to the Lansing State Journal “Catch 22” list as asenior.• Helped lead his team to the 2001 state championship and was named a top-50 defensive backrecruit nationally by Rivals.com.• Intercepted 15 passes - including six in the postseason - his senior season.• Earned all-state honors in track - winning back-to-back 110-meter hurdles state titles as a juniorand senior.• Was enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois.Ball’s 2011 Season StatisticsTackles Interceptions FumblesDate, Opp G GS Tot Solo Asst Sk Yds No Yds Lg TD PD FF FR Yds TD9/11 @ NYJ 1 0 4 4 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 09/18 @ SF 1 1 4 4 0 0.0 0.0 1 15 15 0 1 0 0 0 09/26 vs. WAS 1 0 4 4 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010/2 vs. DET 1 0 1 0 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010/16 @ NE 1 0 1 0 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 010/23 vs. STL 1 0 1 1 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 010/30 @ PHI 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 011/6 vs. SEA 1 0 4 3 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 011/13 vs. BUF 1 1 4 3 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 011/20 @ WAS 1 0 1 0 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 011/24 vs. MIA 1 0 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 012/4 @ ARI 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 012/11 vs. NYG 1 0 3 2 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 012/17 @ TB 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 012/24 vs. PHI 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 01/1 @ NYG 1 0 3 3 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02011 Totals 16 2 32 26 6 0.0 0.0 1 15 15 0 6 0 1 0 0Ball’s Career StatisticsTackles Interceptions FumblesYear Team G GS Tot Solo Asst Sk Yds No Yds Lg TD PD FF FR Yds TD2007 DAL 2 0 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02008 DAL 10 0 4 3 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 02009 DAL 16 3 18 15 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 02010 DAL 16 16 45 40 5 0.5 6.0 2 27 27 0 4 1 0 0 02011 DAL 16 2 32 26 6 0.0 0.0 1 15 15 0 6 0 1 0 0NFL Totals 60 21 101 86 15 0.5 6.0 3 42 27 0 14 1 1 0 0Additional StatisticsSpecial Teams Tackles: 4 total; 2011 – 4.www.HoustonTexans.comtwitter.com/TexansPR