Liam Ezekiel (born October 30, 1982) is a former

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

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He was signed as an

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by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in 2005. He played

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Northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

. He also played for the Nashville Kats and

Chicago Rush The Chicago Rush were a professional arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Located immediately northwest of Chicago, as of the 2010 census it had a population of 4,20 ...

Early years

Ezekiel attended Arlington High School where he played hockey and

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football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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, and

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. While in highschool Ezekiel received many accolades for his football performance. Ezekiel joined the All-State Select 22 team as a senior, became league all-start (as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

, junior, and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

), and was proclaimed Team MVP. In addition to these honors Ezekiel was also named to the All-State team twice (during his junior and senior years) and was proclaimed All-Scholastic by the ''

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'' and ''

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''. While at Arlington High School Liam earned a school record of 28 tackles in a single game, and 147 tackles in one season. Ezekiel finished his

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

career with a school-record 450 tackles.

College career

Ezekiel attended Northeastern where he majored in Criminal Justice and was a member of the school's football team. As a freshman in 2001, Ezekiel was originally going to play at

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

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, however he decided to attend Northeastern in the summer 2001. He was named Third-team All-

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

, the first player in school history to ever earn All-Conference honors as a freshman. In his freshman season, he missed the first two games, but played in the last nine. He finished the season second on the teams with 82 tackles, setting a school freshman record. His average of 9.1 tackles-per-game was the highest on the team and eighth best in the conference. In his first game, he replaced injured linebacker Joe Gazzola, and recorded 13 tackles to help lead the team to its first ever win over

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. Ezekiel later recorded a season-high 15 tackles and one sack to help lead Northeastern to its first conference shutout ever, a 7-0 win over

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. As a sophomore in 2002, Ezekiel led the conference and was seventh in the nation (

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

) with a school-record 145 tackles, an average of 11.2 tackles-per-game. He was a ''Sports Network'' Third-team All-American. He was also First-team All-Conference, a

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Writers All-Star, he was also named the conference's Defensive Player of the Week after recording a career-high 22 tackles (one short of the school's single-game record), on the road against Delaware. He recorded 22 tackles on the road against William & Mary to become the first player in school history to have two 20-tackle games in the same season. He also won the James M. Thornton Memorial Award as MVP of the

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game, after recording 15 tackles, one forced

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful ...

and two fumble recoveries against Villanova. He also returned his first-career

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

28 yards for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

against

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. He played the last five weeks of the season with a broken

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. For the season he recorded seven double-digit tackle games. He also won the Chicken Lou Award as the team's most aggressive player. Through just two seasons, Ezekiel had recorded 227 tackles, 20 short of the school's top 10. As a junior in 2003, Ezekiel started all 12 games. He also received First-team All-America honors from both the ''

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'' and ''Sports Network''. He also earned First-team All-Conference, for the second straight year. He was also named a First-team All-Star by the ECAC and the New England Writers. He won the Atlantic 10 Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording a season-high 19 tackles and returning an interception 40 yards against

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

. He finished the season fifth in the conference and 12th in the nation Division I-AA) in tackles-per-game with 11.7. He recorded 140 tackles, second most in school history, behind his total from the previous season. He also finished in a tie for ninth in the conference in sacks with 5.5. He recorded double-digit tackles in the last 11 games of the season. He also recorded a career-high two sacks against

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. As a senior in 2004, Ezekiel appeared in and started 10 games. He earned First-team All-Conference for the third consecutive season. He also earned First-team All-America honors from the ''Associated Press'' and First-team All-America honors by the ''Sports Network''. He was also named a First-team All-Star by the New England Football Writers and the ECAC. He was also a finalist for the

Buck Buchanan Junious "Buck" Buchanan (September 10, 1940 – July 16, 1992) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle with the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League (AFL) and in the National Football League (NFL). ...

Award and received The Bulger-Lowe Award as the best collegiate athlete in New England. He also appeared in the East-West Shrine Game in

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, in which he recorded six tackles. He also led the conference and was sixth in the nation (Division I-AA) in tackles-per-game with 12.2. His 122 tackles finished fifth in the conference. Ezekiel finished his college career as Northeastern's all-time leader in tackles with 489. His career total placed him second in Division I-AA history.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Ezekiel received an invitation to the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

. He was ranked as the 15th best

inside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

out of 57., as well as the 308th best player out of 1,451 players in the draft. He was projected to be selected in the seventh round or go unselected.

National Football League

Ezekiel went unselected in the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

. However, he later signed as an

with the

, where he made the final roster as a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

and played for two seasons.

Arena Football League

After being released by the Bills, Ezekiel joined the Nashville Kats of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

and played in all 16 games and recorded a team-leading 82.5 tackles, three for losses. He also recorded 1.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble. In October 2007, he was selected by the

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division (AFL), West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did ...

with the eighth pick in the 2008 dispersal draft, but was released at the end of training camp. He then signed a one-year contract with the

and played in 15 games and recorded 32 tackles, one pass broken up, and two fumble recoveries.

United Football League

Ezekiel played two seasons under coach Dennis Green. Starting all games at Middle Linebacker and leading the team in tackles. Ezekiel retired after hip and back surgeries.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezekiel, Liam 1982 births Living people Players of American football from Massachusetts American football fullbacks American football linebackers Northeastern Huskies football players Buffalo Bills players Nashville Kats players Chicago Rush players Sacramento Mountain Lions players Arlington High School (Massachusetts) alumni