Ezekiel Key for Northeastern Against Football

Last Saturday, Cornell coach Jim Knowles declared his squad one player away from equaling Harvard—an athlete capable of confining quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to the pocket, then punishing him for tarrying there.

Unfortunately for Knowles, the Big Red had no such player on its roster. Unfortunately for Fitzpatrick and the Crimson, No. 19 Northeastern just might—Liam Ezekiel.

Just five games into his senior season, the 6’1, 245-lb. linebacker has already recorded 61 tackles—including 6.5 for a loss—and 2.5 sacks.

“He’s a smart football player,” Northeastern coach Rocky Hager said. “Any coach in America would be glad to have 11 players like him.”

That football acumen most directly manifests itself in Ezekiel’s positioning.

The Arlington, Mass. product certainly uses his size to dominate would-be blockers. But it is Ezekiel’s knack for tracking down opposing ballcarriers that has again thrust him into contention for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to Division I-AA’s top defender.

“The things that give him his special skills and tools of the trade of being a linebacker,” Hager said, “are his ability to support the run, get over the top of a block or get under one of that that’s the angle that needs to be taken.”

Which leaves few options for offensive lines looking to keep Ezekiel out of the backfield. Not only will standard schemes likely crumble under the weight of his pass rush, but creative play calls will eventually lose their potency as well, once the Huskies’ all-time leading tackler catches on.

According to Hager, Ezekiel has been targeted on several occasions by wide receivers who have attempted to crack block him, each time with diminishing results. And those few who have taken the chance of devoting even more attention than the standard double team to Ezekiel have only discovered yet another ineffective way of curtailing the Northeastern defense.

“The thing that Towson did was they were releasing a lot of linemen up field off their blocks to try to account for him,” Hager said. “So the defensive linemen were making plays.”

And so was Ezekiel, who managed 12 tackles despite his opponents' effort.

With negating Ezekiel an unlikely outcome and only containing him probably a welcome one, the Crimson will not significantly alter its protection scheme very much, placing its trust in a front five that has proved rock solid thus far this season.

“He’s just one-eleventh of their defense,” said sophomore wide receiver Corey Mazza. “He’s not making me lose any sleep at night.”

If Harvard’s performance last season against Ezekiel is any indication, Mazza has good reason to be so confident. Though Ezekiel recorded 10 tackles—and just half a sack—those numbers were inflated by the Crimson’s early lead and subsequent adoption of a run-heavy ball-control offensive scheme.

With the weapons at his disposal, Harvard coach Tim Murphy will be unlikely to settle into such a predictable system tomorrow. And after watching Cornell shut down Clifton Dawson only to be soundly whipped by Fitzpatrick, Hager knows he’ll have to have his defenders ready for just about anything.

“I would say I don’t think they have a single lynchpin,” Hager said. “They are so multifaceted that you need to be disciplined in all portions of the game.”

And though Ezekiel will obviously play a vital role in any successful Husky effort, Hager said that each down will be decided before the ball is even snapped.

“We’ve got to stay one step ahead of the play calling,” Hager said. “They get Dawson running the ball and my goodness he can beat you by himself. And Fitzpatrick can beat you running or throwing.”

Though Hager said he wouldn’t commit Ezekiel exclusively to marking Fitzpatrick because that would be too predictable and his defense would be left vulnerable, the Northeastern coach left little doubt that stopping Fitzpatrick, even more than Dawson, would likely be the key to victory.

“Fitzpatrick is a very special player,” Hager said. “When he gets outside the pocket he is absolutely lethal.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.