BYU Football Countdown: Player 42 – ZEEEEKE!

No. 42 Ezekiel Ansah – Defensive End – 2010-2012

Everyone knows the story already and normally I wouldn’t tell it, but since this his highlight I suppose it is appropriate. Ezekiel Ansah grew up in Ghana playing soccer and basketball. His skills as a basketball player in pick up games was noticed by some missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They started to play with him and eventually began to teach him before he decided to join the church.

After joining the church, he kept in contact with the missionary who baptized him, Ken Frei who told him that he should look into playing basketball for BYU. He decided to apply to the school and was actually granted an academic scholarship. After trying out and being rejected by the basketball team twice, he joined the track team and did pretty well running sprints. Following one season of running, he was invited to walk on to the football team where he made the team despite not knowing how to put on pads or run any drills.

While it took two full seasons of teaching to get Ansah to the point of being able to be a real difference maker on the defensive side of the ball the wait was worth it.

Rankings

Impact A-

Ansah is the perfect “if you’ve got a dream go for it, but keep your eyes open” kind of guy. He dreamed of playing basketball and running track but ended up playing football in the NFL. He didn’t get there off of just talent and size. If he never worked hard and kept pushing on, he would have never started for BYU or made it in the NFL. His impact on defense also helped the Cougars in 2012 be the 3rd ranked defense in the country. After leaving, again with only one real season of playing football, he was selected as the 5th overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Statistics C

Remember, statistics don’t care about the story or the player, they just look at numbers. Ansah played for three seasons but only recorded impactful stats in one, his senior year. That season was pretty good though with 62 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, a forced fumble and an interception. Also, you have to account that on the other side of the line was Kyle Van Noy and other players Daniel Sorensen, Brandon Ogletree, Preston Hadley and Bronson Kaufusi. In other words there was a lot of talent and only so many plays to share.

Memorable Moments B+

First off, it is memorable just seeing the guy line up against much smaller offensive linemen. At 6’6″ and 270 pounds of pure muscle and speed, offensive linemen had their hands full on every single play. There is one play that really comes to mind for me. It was against Boise State and the Broncos had two guys blocking Ansah. 110% of their focus was on him and they would have let anyone else past they were so focused. That didn’t matter. He got in the backfield, pushed both linemen away and got the sack. He also was the first tackle in the famous four down stop on the goalline. The plays could keep going and going, but the bottom line is, he was so big and fast that he made an impact on every single play whether it was him getting the tackle or helping open up a hole for someone else to.