Ex-Texas football QB Ben Ballard to join Tom Herman at FAU
Former Texas football preferred walk-on senior quarterback Ben Ballard found his next home out of the NCAA Transfer Portal with an announcement he made on social media on Dec. 20. Ballard took to Twitter to the evening of Dec. 20 to announce that he will be transferring to join former Texas head coach Tom Herman in Boca Raton with the Florida Atlantic Owls.
Herman was brought on as the new FAU head coach a few weeks ago. And that apparently gave Ballard a clear landing spot out of the transfer portal heading into the 2023 offseason.
Ballard walked on with the Longhorns team as part of the 2019 class when Herman was still the head coach on the Forty Acres. He was an unranked 5-foot-11 and 185-pound dual-threat quarterback coming out of Hyde Park Baptist School in Austin, TX.
Over the course of four seasons at Texas, Ballard took five offensive snaps in two games. He made his debut late in the Alamo Bowl to conclude the 2020 season when Texas took down the Colorado Buffaloes. Ballard did rake in seven yards on one rushing attempt, with no rushing scores, in the dominant win over Colorado in the 2020 Alamo Bowl.
Ben Ballard announces transfer from Texas football to join Tom Herman at FAU
He also took one offensive snap in Texas’ regular season finale win last year over the Kansas State Wildcats at home.
I have decided to commit to Florida Atlantic University. #GoOwls #stillgoing @CoachTomHerman pic.twitter.com/n6b2LLSbJq
— Ben Ballard (@benballard55) December 20, 2022
During his time at Texas, Ballard was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic calendar years. He was also a six-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll honoree, per Texassports.com.
Moreover, Ballard will be joining Herman in his first year as the FAU head coach. Herman is replacing the former FAU head coach Willie Taggart, who was let go after three seasons in Boca Raton.
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Herman was also the Texas head coach for four seasons (2017-2020), where he posted a record of 32-18 (.640 winning percentage). He was also the head coach of the Houston Cougars from 2015-2016, where he posted a record of 22-4 (.846 winning percentage).