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Zeke Vandenburgh
Personal information
Born:	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)
Position:	Linebacker
Undrafted:	2023
Career history
	Miami Dolphins (2023–2024);
Career highlights and awards
	MVFC Defensive Player of the Year (2022); First-Team All-MVFC (2022); Buck Buchanan Award (2022);
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Ezekiel Vandenburgh (born January 18, 1999) is an American professional football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Illinois State.

Early life

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

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]

College statistics

Season	Games	Defense
Season	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

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] He was waived/injured on August 19, 2024.^[11]