Zeke Vandenburgh

American football player (born 1999)

American football player

Zeke VandenburghNo. 57 – Miami Dolphins

Position:| Linebacker
Personal information
Born:|  (1999-01-18) January 18, 1999 (age 25)
Vallejo, California, U.S.
Height:| 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:| 232 lb (105 kg)
Career information
High school:| Freeport
(Freeport, Illinois)
College:| Illinois State (2017–2022)
Undrafted:| 2023
Career history

* Miami Dolphins (2023–present)

Roster status:| Active
Career highlights and awards

* MVFC Defensive Player of the Year (2022)
* First-Team All-MVFC (2022)
* Buck Buchanan Award (2022)

Player stats at PFR

Ezekiel Vandenburgh (born January 18, 1999) is an American football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois State.

## Early life and high school

[edit]

Vandenburgh was born on January 18, 1999, in Vallejo, California. He moved to Freeport, Illinois, where he attended and played high school football for Freeport High School. He was a three-year letterwinner and also recorded over 100 tackles as a senior. He was a First-Team All-Conference in 2016.[1]

## College career

[edit]

Vandenburgh played college football for Illinois State. He redshirted in 2017.

In 2018 he played in all eleven games at linebacker and finished his first season with 22 tackles and a season-best four tackles in a game against Southern Illinois.

In 2019 he was a Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) All-Academic honorable mention team while also seeing playing time in all fifteen games. He finished the season with 51 tackles and nine tackles for loss. He recorded a half sack and four tackles in the second round of the FCS playoffs against Central Arkansas.

In 2020 the season was moved to the spring and was shortened to four games. He played in all four games and finished with thirteen tackles.

In the fall 2021 season he was once again MVFC All-Academic Team selection for a fourth-straight season.[2] He started eleven games for the Redbirds and had 73 tackles and a team-leading four sacks. Against Northern Illinois he had a then-career-best fourteen tackles and was named MVFC Defensive Player of the Week.

In 2022 he started ten games for Illinois State while tallying a sack in eight of the ten games. Against Valparaiso, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois he had three-or-more sacks. In the season-finale against Western Illinois he also had a career-high seventeen tackles alongside the three-and-a-half sacks.[3] After the season he was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Year,[4] First-Team All-MVFC,[5] and also earned the prestigious Buck Buchanan Award for Division I FCS's best defensive player.[6]

### Statistics

[edit]

Season  | Games  | Defense

|
|

GP | Solo | Ast | TOT | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD | FF | FR
Illinois State Redbirds
2017 | DNP
2018 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 22 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
2019 | 15 | 37 | 14 | 51 | 9.5 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
2020–21 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
2021 | 11 | 44 | 26 | 70 | 8.5 | 4.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0
2022 | 10 | 51 | 49 | 100 | 21.0 | 14.0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1
Career | 51 | 151 | 105 | 256 | 43.5 | 24.0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1

## Professional career

[edit]

Pre-draft measurables  Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

6 ft 3+3⁄4 in
(1.92 m)  | 234 lb
(106 kg)  | 31+5⁄8 in
(0.80 m)  | 9+3⁄4 in
(0.25 m) | 4.80 s | 1.62 s | 2.74 s | 4.42 s | 7.06 s | 34.5 in
(0.88 m) | 10 ft 2 in
(3.10 m) | 24 reps
All values from Pro Day[7]

On February 21, 2023, Vandenburgh was drafted 38th overall to the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League (USFL).[8]

On May 12, 2023, Vandenburgh was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent.[9] On July 18, 2023, the Dolphins placed him on injured reserve.[10]

## Personal life

[edit]

Vandenburgh married his wife, Leah, on March 18, 2023.[11]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Zeke Vandenburgh - Football". Illinois State University Athletics. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
2. ^ randy.reinhardt@lee.net, Randy Reinhardt. "Illinois State's Zeke Vandenburgh one of three finalists for Buchanan Award". pantagraph.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
3. ^ Haley, Craig (January 8, 2023). "Zeke Vandenburgh Wins 2022 Buck Buchanan Award". The Analyst. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
4. ^ Bayne, Derek. "Vandenburgh reflects on big season, looks ahead to NFL Draft". WREX. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
5. ^ "2022 Missouri Valley Football All-Conference Teams". valley-football.org. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
6. ^ Prerost, Scott. "Vandenburgh drafted by Birmingham Stallions of USFL". videtteonline.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
7. ^ "2023 NFL Draft Scout Zeke Vandenburgh College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
8. ^ "Freeport's Zeke Vandenburgh performs for NFL scouts at Northwestern's Pro Day". MyStateline.com. March 15, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
9. ^ "Freeport's Zeke Vandenburgh getting an NFL shot with the Dolphins". mystateline.com. Nexstar Media. April 29, 2023. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
10. ^ "Miami Dolphins Make Roster Moves". MiamiDolphins.com. July 18, 2023.
11. ^ "THE SWEET SUMMER OF 2022".

## External links

[edit]

* Illinois State Redbirds bio

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Buck Buchanan Award winners

* 1995: Coakley
* 1996: Coakley
* 1997: McNeil
* 1998: Milton
* 1999: Lucas
* 2000: Hartwell
* 2001: Lloyd
* 2002: Mathis
* 2003: J. Allen
* 2004: Beck
* 2005: Gocong
* 2006: Shotwell
* 2007: Biermann
* 2008: Peach
* 2009: Moats
* 2010: Sherritt
* 2011: Evans
* 2012: Schreibeis
* 2013: Daly
* 2014: Emanuel
* 2015: King
* 2016: Schult
* 2017: Jackson
* 2018: Hall
* 2019: Olson
* 2020: Lewis
* 2021: Land
* 2022: Vandenburgh
* 2023: T. Allen

*[DNP]: Did not play
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*[Int.]: International Player Pathway