Zachary John Mesday (born October 25, 1994) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

free agent

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

from

Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Hamilton Township is a Township (New Jersey), township and the most populous municipality in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the largest suburb of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton, the state's capi ...

who played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, where he originally walked-on and eventually earned a sixth year of eligibility and scholarship as a graduate student.

Early years

Mesday was a defensive end, tight end and fullback at

Nottingham High School Nottingham High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private fee-charging day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, England, with an infant and junior school (ages 4–11) and senior school (ages 11–18). There were 1177 stu ...

in Hamilton Township, where he was a member of the 2012 Central Jersey Group III state title-winning team. He earned third-team All-State, first-team All-State Group III, first-team All South Jersey, first-team all-conference (7A)/county, New Jersey Super 100 All-State Team, conference lineman of the year, and four-time player of the week for Mercer County in his senior year. That season he recorded 106 tackles, 19.5 sacks, two interceptions, and six forced fumbles. After receiving "a few D-II and I-AA offers but nothing with a full scholarship," he prepped a year and switched positions to linebacker as a

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

at the Canterbury School in

New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town, part of Greater Danbury, as well as the New York Metropolitan Area, has a population of 28,115 as of the 2020 census. New Milford lies north of Danbury on the ...

College years

Mesday went to Temple as a preferred-walk-on with a chance to compete for a scholarship in 2014 and redshirted as a true freshman. In 2015 and 2016 he redshirted while recovering from knee surgeries. From 2014 to 2018 he was awarded named Athletic Director's Honor Roll five times. He saw his game first action in 2017. As a graduate in 2018 he finished third on the team in tackles for loss (8.0) and was named

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

All-Academic Team. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility and as a graduate in 2019 he was named William Campbell Trophy semifinalist and to the

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

Good Works Team Watch List. In 2020, Mesday was named to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Hampshire Honor Society, to which players are named for maintaining a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers.

Career stats

References

External links

Temple Owls Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesday, Zack 1994 births Living people American football linebackers Canterbury School (Connecticut) alumni Sportspeople from Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Players of American football from Mercer County, New Jersey Players of American football from Trenton, New Jersey