From Cougar to Lion: BYU's Ansah destined for Detroit


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The day after becoming BYU's first top-ten NFL Draft pick in 31 years, Ezekiel Ansah was already on the move--headed for Detroit and a Motor City welcome from Lions fans who saw their team take Ansash with the fifth overall selection last night in New York City.

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Saying "it's kind of sad for me to see him go," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall talked on Friday about Ansah's big night, with the coach invited to be a part of Ziggy's support group at Radio City Music Hall.

"It's been a fantastic experience to be in New York," said Mendenhall, "(and) to be part of Ziggy Ansah's life for the past three years. It was also one of the highlights of my coaching career to be with Ziggy backstage last evening and with his family and to see the culmination of three hard years of work provide an opportunity for him to now start the next phase and adventure in his life."

"It's a reality now that he's moving on."

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Such a reality would have been difficult to imagine almost three years ago, when Ansah, after two failed basketball tryouts and a stint on the BYU track team, found his way to the BYU Football complex.

On August 10th, 2010--the second day of the Cougars' fall camp--Mendenhall was asked, for the first time, about the player who could go on to become one of the most compelling stories in NFL Draft history.

Here's what Mendenhall had to say about Ansah after practice that day, explaining how his presence on the football field came about:

"Ezekiel wandered through our office one day; I think our players kind of directed him, seeing he's 6-foot-whatever he is. He runs a 21.9 200-meters, but we had to help him put his (football) stuff on; he'd never put gear on before.

"He's a work in progress, but he wanted to give it a try. He showed up this summer, the players loved him; he wouldn't go away... even though he wasn't prepared, he showed up for workouts. He kind of grew on (the players) and they came to me and said 'make sure you bring him in the 105.'

"He doesn't know anything (about playing defensive end), but when he decides to run fast, he runs fast, and he's big."

Reflecting today on Ansah's earliest conditioning workous with the program, in the summer of 2010, Mendenhall said "what I saw right away is that he had never been asked to work in that manner before. What I saw from him was that as foreign as these things were, that we were having him do, he was willing, and he was taking instruction, and he was eager to learn.

"That's what started to captivate me regarding Ziggy, that even though this was difficult for him...he wanted it, and he was intrigued by it, and that was a good sign.

"I did see size, I did see speed, I did see change of direction, and I saw a willing spirit and someone that was obedient and wanted to learn, and wasn't afraid to work. I just didn't know how long it would take him before we could even get him to a place where he might be able to see the field--or if that would ever happen."

In 2010, Ansah played in only six of 13 games, making three tackles and accounting for a single pass break-up.

In 2011, Ansah got into 12 of 13 games, recording seven tackles and a quarterback hurry. A few weeks after the 2011 season concluded, BYU was was back at work during spring ball, and Ziggy was now showing increased promise as a defensive end/linebacker hybrid.

On March 29th of 2012, at the end of one the final practices of the spring, Mendenhall issued the following status update on a senior-to-be who was still a football walk-on:

"Oh, man," said Mendenhall that day. "He's more than a football player. He is talented, and he now understands the game, and is playing two positions, when two years ago, he didn't know how to put on his equipment.

"There might be a chance for him--based on his year, with his size and speed and the way he plays special teams--he might play after college, and he's not even on scholarship.

"It could be a tremendous story, and I don't want the headline to be 'Ziggy Ansah: NFL Player,' but if he continues to do what he's done the past two years, and does that this year, that wouldn't be out of the question.

"Unlikely, would be an understatement, that I believed he'd be at this point."

The 2012 season saw Asnah break out, finishing fourth on the team in tackles with 62, including 13 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. He intercepted a pass, recorded nine pass break-ups and six QB hurries, along with a forced fumble.

Yet, through four games of the season, Ansah was still a back-up, playing behind senior starter Eathyn Manumaleuna at left end. At Boise State, on September 20th, Manumaleuna went down with what would be a season-ending injury, allowing Ansah to step in and fill his spot as a starter for the season's remaining nine games.

Mendenhall was asked today if Ansah could have been a No. 5 pick without the injury to Manumeleuna and the opportunity to perform the way he did in 2012.

"Hard to say," said Mendenhall. "He might have been used even more diversely, because we would have played him at outside linebacker in some situations, but the volume of plays he was allowed to make, and maybe even the volume of total snaps he played would have gone down."

"If Eathyn hadn't gone down, maybe Ziggy wouldn't be in the position he is today, and it's hard to speculate, but it certainly has to be considered."

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Ansah's ascension and emergence garnered substantial attention from NFL scouts as the season progressed, with the Ghanaian native going from off-the-radar to a potential first-round draft selection.

An invite to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama may have been the linchpin to Ansah's top-five projection. Working under the tutelage of the Detroit Lions' coaching staff all week, Ansah battled through hard days of drill work to then impress in the Senior Bowl game itself, with seven tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

As reported in the Detroit Free Press, Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said Thursday night that Ansah "didn't know very much before the beginning of the week. But every practice you saw him get better. And then the game came, and he dominated the game."

"It wasn't just his playing ability during the week. You saw what a serious guy he was. You saw how important it was for him to do well, how he wanted to please the coaches. That was all an important part of the evaluation. It was a week well spent in Mobile."

Lions GM Martin Mayhew added that "I think if we didn't have the opportunity to coach him at the Senior Bowl ... (Ansah's inexperience) would have been a bigger issue."

"But we had the opportunity to work with him," said Mayhew, "to teach him, and we saw the way that he can learn, how quickly he picks things up, and we saw the impact he had in the game, so we felt very comfortable with him."

Mendenhall, who was reached by Mayhew in the hours before the draft, knew that the club's previous experience with Ansah gave the Lions more than a little inside knowledge.

"This entire (Detroit) coaching staff watched him every single day at the Senior Bowl," said Mendenhall on Friday. "They know what they're getting, and I know what they're getting--and that in an of itself is a great place to start in terms if limiting risk and giving everyone great security that he can not only play but play withing the system they want him to play in."

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The Lions have lost their top three defensive ends from last season, so the opportunity will be there for Ansah to step in right away and play.

Mendenhall says the Lions' plan to use Ansah as a wide edge rusher "really highlights all of his strengths. He's very quick off the ball, he has long levers."

"I think he can become a master at his craft in terms of becoming a true technician, only doing pass rush, only handling the edge, only maintaining leverage--and doing it at a super-high and super-fast level.

"I think that will give him an accelerated opportunity to really contribute to what the lions need him to do in a faster course, than if he were doing multiple things as we had him do."

Answering any Lions fans or media who might be skeptical of the Ansah pick, Mendenhall said Friday that the the incoming rookie's "potential is unlimited."

"He's fast enough, he's quick enough, he's strong enough, he's a hard enough worker, he retains information well enough, he's consistent enough both on and off the field, that there is really no downside.

"He has made the fastest ascent that I've ever heard of or seen, or even believed was possible, in going from not having played the game to being a first-round draft pick. To me, there's zero reason why he can't do that--from a first-round pick to whatever level they would like him to perform at--in a very similar time-frame, if not shorter."

"The biggest that anyone could ever underestimate is how smart he is; he's very smart and he retains information very well. He can learn and apply things very, very quickly. because of that cerebral nature...with the physical ability, that's been really helpful to him."

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The story of Ziggy the person is as compelling as Ziggy the player, and his coach at BYU believes that Ansah's tale can serve as an inspiration to others. Members of a family that never got to see him play in Provo joined Ansah in New York on Thursday--the day of BYU's graduation ceremonies. Ziggy donned a cap and gown in his hotel room before the draft, and Mendenhall said that "I know for his mom, in visiting with his her, that this particular (graduation) event has as much or more importance to her than anything else."

"Her next focus was making sure he was surrounded by quality people he could trust and build great relationships with."

Mendenhall said that in his Thursday conversation with Mayhew, "I told him he was getting a very humble, a very obedient, a very hardworking player that loves competition but thrives on relationships, and I encouraged their organization to build strong relationships with Ziggy, which it sounds like they started with at the Senior Bowl."

"And I said if those remain intact, there's trust developed between himself and your staff, he'll play at a very, very high level for a long time."

Referencing the Lions' supporters in Detroit, Mendenhall says Ansah "will endear himself to the fans that will come to watch; he loves little kids. He loves to spend time with the youth; he's playful at heart, but he's also very bright and cerebral with his math and statistics emphasis (at BYU)."

"He's very faith-oriented, with strong morals, strong values, but also youthful, and loves to have a good time. I think that for the families of Detroit that are looking for a great role model and a great person, I think that he'll endear himself to the community and they'll just become enthralled and really love him."

Mendenhall said he hopes Ansah can return to Ghana "every year and do a camp for kids, and start teaching them how to play the game."

"I think it would be a great way for Ziggy to give back to his homeland but also help the game of college football and more specifically help our program at BYU. Hopefully he can get a foundation or something going that can facilitate that. I hope it's not once-in-a-lifetime."

Time will tell if there might be another Ziggy Ansah out there, in a land largely unfamiliar with the sport of American football. For the time being, Ziggy remains one-of-a-kind.

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Photo: Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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