Seen some blurb on him at NFL.com and decided to look him up

Ezekiel Ansah
#47 LB Senior Brigham Young Cougars
Height 6-6 Weight 270 lbs.

He actually plays as a DE and DT on 3-4 sets, is pretty much exactly like JJ but he's also a good track athlete, tall, rangey, fast sounds exactly like the physical make up PCJS like. Watched the highlights and he seems to be a handful for at least the Boise State line, makes good penetration when playing as DT and is a very good tackler it seems. From other scout sites I quickly browsed it seems he's rising up the ranks and is in the top 50 right now. I really like the look of this guy and think he could do well in our D as a Jason Jones type player given a year to learn the pro ropes. If we could pick him up in the second round I'd go for it, and even if there's no 'weapons' left on the board when we pick in the 1st round and no Dion Jordan (whom I also like) this guy would be a pick for me for sure.

Any thoughts?

I like some of his DT stuff. I can definitely see him filling a Jones role.

Good find.

I've been posting about this guy since week 1. There's quite a bit of info. Glad somebody else noticed him. Feel free to check my post... it's in here and says "My new thing...."

Link: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=48961

Good write ups. That at least makes two on the Ziggy Seahawk bandwagon for this years draft then!

Wow, this guy's a natural. He sheds so well and makes great tackles. His build kind of reminds me of Clowney at South Carolina, except Ansah looks more athletic and seems to understand the game much better. It's just a highlight clip, but color me impressed. I wonder if he has any injury history?

No injury history. This is his first year as a full time defensive player. If you check my post linked above there is a bit of his history. He's from Accra Ghana in Africa and had never played football until last season when he played on special teams almost exclusively.

BYU has a very strong track program, and has a pipeline to Africa through Frank Fredricks (former Olympic runner and silver medalist a couple of times) and a couple of other guys, specifically another olympian named Leonard Myles-Mills. Frankie actually was my wife's "boyfriend" of sorts at BYU.... and I was so jealous when he sent her a postcard from the Olympics in Barcelona while he was setting records and was officially the second fastest man in the world in the 100 and 200. Grrr.... but I won her over. Leonard was I believe putting up numbers that made him the third or fourth fastest man in the world at that time.

Ziggy came to BYU as part of the track program that seeks out African runners that want to come to BYU and train (many come due to the high elevation, incredible facilities, and top-notch coaching of Ed Eyestone who was a world class runner and is a world class guy by the way, and others). Ziggy came to school here, and still had some time left on his student visa/eligibility and is HUGE so he decided one day to come out for football. He didn't even know how to put on a uniform or how the game was played but the other players loved his enthusiasm and the coaches loved his raw talent (you can't train a guy to be that big and fast). He got put on the scout team 2 years ago, and then due to other guys getting injured he basically played gunner for a while last year. This year he got a chance due to another player getting injured and the amazing speed he had at picking up the game. Bronco Mendenhall has been great for him. For those who don't know... Bronco is BYU's head coach and was known for having quite a bit to do with Urlacher's success at New Mexico by developing the "Lobo Back" position for him and letting him develop into a dominant player. He can find talent and use it effectively for sure.

Zig is 6'6" 270-ish (and gaining) and runs a 21 second 200. That's world class speed. I've seen him do some insane stuff (like literally leaping over guys and sacking the QB).

I've also seen him run track and it is downright scary that a guy built like Clemons runs like Usain Bolt. I'm dead serious. He is like if Bolt took roids for a year and grew into a DE. He's going to be in the NFL and it's going to be awesome to watch.

By the beginning of next year he will be well known by all football fans who pay attention to the draft.
BYU prospects don't often make this kind of noise on defense. There's a lot to like with him.

I can't think of a BYU defensive player getting this much attention since probably Rob Morris. He was a first rounder, but didn't have such a great pro career (he had a decent career though). John and Ryan Denney and Brett Keisel had quite a few scouts out to see them, and I believe they are all still playing. Keisel is quite a player and has won a couple of Superbowl Rings. I think Ansah is superior to all of those guys. The Hawks had a guy a couple of years ago named Cam Jensen from BYU that played LB and he was probably the best of the bunch. He just decided after one season that he didn't want to live the NFL life. A guy I work with had quite a bit of attention, was all conference, got invited to the combine, had agents calling him constantly and he quit. He no-showed the combine. He just had no interest in playing in the NFL. I ask him why, and he says, "Why should I have? My career would have been over by now and I would be too beat up to do anything else." He's probably right. He graduated in 2006 and his career probably would have been winding down. He'd have a lot of cash, but he just didn't feel the tradeoff was worth it. Pretty impressive guy.

Not to grumble about this thread but all the info about Ansah herein is in SharkHawk's thread as listed above.

Interesting player though!

Will he be available at our first round pick? Rob Rang has him at #21 right now.

T-Sizzle wrote:Will he be available at our first round pick? Rob Rang has him at #21 right now.

Is there a chance? Yup, he's a 10-25 player most likely but does he have a role other than as a situational player in our defense? That's the question. Can we get better value for our first round pick (yup) and have a potential full time starter instead of Ansah.

As much as I love the guy and would love to see him with us I'm still having trouble seeing him as anything other than situational and while the brain trust didn't have any problem picking up Irvin they still picked him to develop into the LEO role eventually,

I disagree, Ansah is a 4 down player. He can play the pass, block kicks, play the run and rush the passer. The guy is all over the field and can do it all. I would definitely trade up to get this guy as he is an athletic freak and a difference maker.

I know he is a lot bigger than our current LEO in Clemons but does he have the pass rushing ability of Clemons? Can he play LEO? Could he be a guy that plays LEO on early downs and moves inside on passing downs?

Here is a really good link on this guy, has lots of game film to check him on

http://www.ganggreennation.com/2012/12/ ... kiel-ansah