Evander "Ziggy" Hood (born February 16, 1987) 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 ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

in the first round (32nd overall) of the

2009 NFL Draft The 2009 NFL Draft was the seventy-fourth annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. T ...

. Hood has also played for the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

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

, and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

Early years

Hood attended

Palo Duro High School Palo Duro High School is a school located in the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States, and is one of four high schools in the Amarillo Independent School District. As of the 2016–17 school year, it has 2,075 students. The school was named afte ...

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

, where he was a two-sport star in both football and track. In

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

, he earned All-District honors his junior and senior seasons. As a junior, he made 76 tackles, including 5.0 sacks and returned an

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 ...

for a touchdown. As a senior, he was named 3-4A Defensive Player of the Year after making 93 tackles, including 13.0 sacks, and scoring three defensive

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. In

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, Hood was one of the states top performers in the throwing events. He got top-throws of 15.50 meters (50 ft 8in) in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and 50.55 meters (165 ft 7in) in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

College career

Hood played college football at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. During his college career, he played

. He finished with 170 tackles (98 solos), 15.5 sacks, 22.5 tackles for loss and 22 quarterback pressures. He also had five forced fumbles, recovering three.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

He was selected in the first round, 32nd overall, by the

in the

. He moved to defensive end in the Steelers' 3–4 defense, and served as a rotational back-up in his rookie year. Hood recorded both his first sack and first recovered

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 ...

against the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

on December 27, 2009. At the end of the 2010 season, Hood and the Steelers appeared in

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...

against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He had one total tackle in the 31–25 loss.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On March 13, 2014, Hood signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the

. The Jaguars released him on October 20, 2015.

Chicago Bears

On October 22, 2015, the

signed Hood following the release of

Jeremiah Ratliff Jeremiah Jerome Ratliff (born August 29, 1981), formerly known as Jay Ratliff, is a former American football nose tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears. He played college football at Auburn Univ ...

. On December 15, 2015, he was waived.

Washington Redskins

On February 2, 2016, Hood signed a one-year contract with the

. Hood re-signed on March 15, 2017. On October 16, 2018, Hood was released by the Redskins.

Miami Dolphins

On October 30, 2018, Hood was signed by the

New Orleans Saints

On July 24, 2019, Hood signed with the

. He was released on August 31, 2019.

NFL statistics

Personal life

Hood was named by his father after former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the on ...

, of whom his father was a fan. He is of half Mexican ancestry. During his childhood, his Mexican grandmother could not correctly pronounce Evander, so she started calling him by the name of her favorite cartoon character,

Ziggy Ziggy is a masculine given name, often a diminutive form (hypocorism) of Zigmunt and other names. It is also a nickname. Notable people with the name include: Nickname or hypocorism * Ezekiel Ansah (born 1989), National Football League pla ...

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio

Washington Redskins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Ziggy 1987 births Living people Palo Duro High School alumni Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas Players of American football from Texas American sportspeople of Mexican descent American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends Missouri Tigers football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Jacksonville Jaguars players Chicago Bears players Washington Redskins players Miami Dolphins players New Orleans Saints players