Ezekiel Vandenburgh (born January 18, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

for the

Memphis Showboats The Memphis Showboats were an American football franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders. Perhaps the ...

of the United Football League (UFL). He 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 ...

at Illinois State.

Early life

Vandenburgh was born on January 18, 1999, in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

. He moved to

Freeport, Illinois Freeport is the largest city in Stephenson County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is k ...

, where he attended and played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

for Freeport High School. He was a three-year letterwinner and also recorded over 100

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

as a senior. He was a First-Team All-Conference in 2016.

College career

Vandenburgh played

for Illinois State. He

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2017. In 2018 he played in all eleven games at

and finished his first season with 22 tackles and a season-best four tackles in a game against

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

. In 2019 he was a

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

(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 Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state ...

. 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. He started eleven games for the Redbirds and had 73 tackles and a team-leading four sacks. Against

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

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. After the season he was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-MVFC, and also earned the prestigious Buck Buchanan Award for Division I FCS's best defensive player.

College statistics

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

On February 21, 2023, Vandenburgh was drafted 38th overall to the Birmingham Stallions of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). On May 12, 2023, Vandenburgh was signed by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

as an undrafted free agent. On July 18, 2023, the Dolphins placed him on injured reserve. He was waived/injured on August 19, 2024.

Memphis Showboats

On January 23, 2025, Vandenburgh signed with the

of the United Football League (UFL).

Personal life

Vandenburgh married his wife, Leah, on March 18, 2023.

References

External links

Illinois State Redbirds bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandenburgh, Zeke 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Vallejo, California Players of American football from Illinois American football linebackers Freeport High School (Illinois) alumni Illinois State Redbirds football players Miami Dolphins players Memphis Showboats (2022) players