Former NFL running back finds career in engineering
Vick Ballard didn’t expect to lead the Southeastern Conference in touchdowns his first year as a Bulldog running back.
The junior transfer from Pascagoula had made a name for himself at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, but said stepping onto Mississippi State’s campus felt like starting over.
“I wasn’t really anticipating becoming a starter. So, I was thinking to myself, let me put down some realistic goals—like 600 rushing yards and a handful of touchdowns,” he said.
He scored 20.
In 2010, Ballard emerged as the Bulldogs’ featured back, averaging more than five yards per carry and cracking Mississippi State’s top-10 for rushing touchdowns in a single season. It was a breakout he hadn’t planned, but one that launched him toward the next level.
Mississippi State, he said, was the foundation for everything that followed.
After earning a degree in business administration, Ballard was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts.
A promising rookie season gave way to a string of injuries, including a torn ACL followed by a torn Achilles tendon, which altered the trajectory of his football career.
“It turned into a nightmare,” he said. “I had season-ending injuries. So, it turned something really enjoyable into something that gave me a lot of anxiety.
“My livelihood was essentially at stake,” he continued. “That’s the nature of the NFL. It’s a job. If you can’t perform the job, you get fired.”
The instability forced Ballard to start planning for a life after football.
“I had to figure out what I wanted to do the rest of my life,” Ballard said. “I could have done something in the athletics industry, but I felt like I could do something different; that I had the ability and I didn’t have to stay inside of that box.”
Mississippi State alumnus Vick Ballard, who dominated the SEC with a 20-touchdown season in 2010 before heading to the NFL, credits his time in Starkville for preparing him for his current role as a Lockheed Martin aeronautical engineer.
That “something different” had always been in the back of his mind.
Ballard said he had always liked to understand how things work and find ways to improve them, and that interest drew him to engineering. He knew that path would require a return to the classroom, but he said he knew he wasn’t starting from scratch.
“I had dedicated myself 1,000% to getting back on the field to continue the success I had before. It just didn’t work out that way,” he said. “I told myself if I can commit to anything else in life with that same rigor, there’s no telling where I’ll end up. Those injuries I had helped me develop my superpower: grit.”
Ballard went back to school, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in industrial systems engineering, as well as an MBA. Today, he works in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed Martin focusing on aircraft safety.
He credits Mississippi State with giving him the foundation that not only supported his career change but also shaped the life he has now.
“Mississippi State was the start,” he said. “I took a microeconomics class, and the first thing the professor said was, ‘This is not an economics class. This is a class on analytical thinking.’ That was the start of me being able to process large amounts of information and spit out answers. It’s what I do now every day.
“Without Mississippi State, I wouldn’t have met my wife. I wouldn’t have done a lot of the things that I’ve done in life,” he continued. “Mississippi State gave me an opportunity to make it to the NFL. The NFL gave me the opportunity to play and that gift just kept giving because even when I went back to school, my schooling was paid for because I had played in the NFL. So, Mississippi State is the foundation of my life.”
In May, Ballard married Brittany Pernell, a fellow Mississippi State graduate who now works in commercial real estate. To him, every step—even the injuries and uncertainty in his professional career—led him to a place he’s happy to be.
“I’m years away from where I started,” he said. “There’s a huge lake in my neighborhood. Sometimes, I’ll just go out and sit on the bench, look at the lake and realize how far I’ve come from the apartments I lived in my whole life.
“That alone, the tangible things, brings me a level of peace. I’m happy,” he continued. “There are still a couple things that I want, but I am so happy with where I am today.”
By Mary Pollitz, Photos from MSU Archives and Submitted
