By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

ATLANTA  — Zeek Biggers entered the world weighing 11 pounds and continues to do things in a big way.

The former West Rowan star not only is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the business administration major is an early graduate of that prestigious university. With the amount of time that playing big-time college football requires outside the classroom, that’s quite an accomplishment with the books.

“It was a lot of hard work, but graduating early was a goal,” Biggers said.

Biggers, who concluded a solid college career with the Yellow Jackets with four tackles, one of them a sack, against Vanderbilt in the Birmingham Bowl, had some incentive to graduate early. Now he can focus on preparing for the NFL Draft. That’s been his dream for a decade.

At 6-foot-6, 322 pounds, Biggers’ forte was his presence as an immovable object in the interior of Georgia Tech’s defense. Linemen have said that trying to block Biggers is like trying to block a truck, but he also possesses surprising lateral mobility and agility for such a massive player.

“A lot of people think I’m just going to sit on the line of scrimmage,” Biggers said. “They don’t expect me to be able to run like I can.”

He has the size and the talent needed to have a legitimate chance to make the NFL.

Drafttek ranks Biggers as the 19th-best 3-technique defensive tackle available for the NFL Draft that will take place in April 2025. Drafttek ranks him No. 54 as far as all the players coming out of the ACC and ranks him No. 325 overall. There will be only 256 players drafted in seven rounds by the NFL, so that ranking would put Biggers in the free-agent category, but even if he slides through the draft, there doesn’t appear to be any doubt that teams will be eager to make offers to get him into their training camp.

Biggers isn’t sitting around hoping for the best. He continues to work at getting better and improving his draft stock.

On Jan. 2, he will head to Florida for several weeks of intense training sessions. That training will lead up to his trip on Jan. 25 to Texas to compete in the East-West Shrine Bowl. That’s a major all-star game that will be played in Dallas on Jan. 30. That will be an important showcase opportunity for Biggers.

“The week of practice leading up to the all-star game will be at least as important as the game,” Biggers said. “There will be a lot of NFL scouts there, a lot of eyes. It’s their chance to evaluate me in one-on-one situations against other all-stars.”

Biggers was mobile enough that he stood out at West Rowan in basketball as well as football. His high school career was peaking during the COVID days, so he actually signed with Georgia Tech at a church rather than the school media center. He was offered by major in-state schools but followed his cousin Domonique Noble, a West Rowan grad who had a successful football career at Georgia Tech and earned a degree. Biggers was rated as a 3-star recruit and as a top-75 defensive tackle nationally by ESPN.

Biggers made steady progress at Georgia Tech. He was on the field in nine games as a true freshman. He was playing significant snaps by his sophomore year. He became a full-time starter as a junior.

He made quite a few personal changes getting ready for his senior season.

His dreadlocks were replaced by a haircut befitting a young business executive.

“I got the haircut when I pledged a fraternity,” Biggers said. “Shorter hair had some advantages. Offensive linemen would pull on the dreadlocks.”

He also trimmed down. His weight peaked at about 362 pounds two years ago, but he played his senior season 40 pounds lighter than that.

He was named Georgia Tech’s most outstanding defensive lineman as a senior.

As an interior defensive lineman in a 4-2-5 defense, Biggers did not play a position that was conducive to racking up stats. He had 23 tackles this season. He had four tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. He blocked several kicks.

“I play a position where it’s hard to put up numbers,” Biggers said. “Like everyone else, I really wanted to make plays when I first got to college. But then I started to see the bigger picture. I learned that my job was to command a double-team block to free up our linebackers to make the tackle. If the linebackers make the tackle, I know I did my job.”

Biggers’ best day statistically this season was a strong performance against nationally ranked Notre Dame. Biggers had five tackles in that one, two for loss.

“Notre Dame was my best game as far as stats, but I thought I played better games against Virginia Tech and Georgia,” Biggers said.

Georgia Tech had Georgia on the ropes before losing. Biggers got a chance to talk to Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker, who starred at West Rowan’s rival, Salisbury, for a few minutes after that eight-overtime thriller was over.

Drafttek rates Walker as the second-best off-ball linebacker available in the draft (after Clemson’s Barrett Carter), so there’s not much doubt that Walker, the Butkus Award winner as a junior, will be drafted in the first two rounds.

Biggers, who will return after the all-star game to Florida for more pre-draft training for NFL combines, hopes to join Walker — and North Rowan grad Javon Hargrave — in the league.

Biggers also has put himself in good position for life after football. He’s earned a degree from a highly regarded university and is formulating plans for how to use it.

“I’ve had an apprenticeship with Norfolk Southern and learned a lot about technology, operations and supply chains,” he said. “That could be an exciting career.”