Mark Nzeocha
No. 53 Dallas Cowboys | |||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||
Personal information | |||
Date of birth: | January 19, 1990 | ||
Place of birth: | Ansbach, Germany | ||
Height: | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). | ||
Weight: | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). | ||
Career information | |||
High school: | Ansbach (GER) | ||
College: | Wyoming | ||
NFL draft: | 2015 / Round: 7 / Pick: 236 | ||
Career history | |||
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Roster status: | Active | ||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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Career NFL statistics | |||
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Player stats at PFR |
Mark Nzeocha (en-ZAH-chuh;[needs IPA] born January 19, 1990) is a German player of American football who is a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Wyoming.
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Early years
Nzeocha attended high school at FOS Ansbach. He began playing flag football as a 13-year old for the Franken Knights youth team, before moving up to the junior football team at 16.
He was a safety for the German National Team that won the 2008 European Junior Championships and that finished fifth in the 2009 IFAF Junior World Cup in Canton, Ohio. He received recognition by being named to the All-tournament team.
College career
His international exposure earned him a scholarship to play for the University of Wyoming. As a freshman he played as an outside linebacker in 10 games, before being moved to free safety during the latter part of the season. The next year he was moved to strong safety, finishing with 11 games played (2 starts), 32 tackles and a forced fumble.[1]
After earning the starting strongside linebacker position as a junior, he had a break-out season with 101 tackles (10 for loss), one sack, 2 forced fumbles and 2 passes defensed.
In his last year, he was playing strongside linebacker in the base defense, middle linebacker in the nickel defense, and was a core special teams player.[2] He was also leading the team in multiple defensive categories, before suffering a season ending ACL tear in the seventh game against San Jose State University, finishing with 59 tackles (3 for loss), 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 5 passes defensed. He was named to the Academic All-Conference team in three-straight seasons.
Professional career
Nzeocha was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round (236th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft. Due to his limited football experience, Nzeocha was targeted primarily because of his athletic ability.[3] Entering the league as a 25-year-old rookie, he missed all of the preseason while recovering from a knee injury he suffered in college. He began the regular season on the Reserve/Non-Football injury list and was activated until November 18. He only played in 2 games and was declared inactive for 5 contests.
Personal life
His brother Eric plays linebacker for the University of Wyoming. Nzeocha is half Nigerian.
References
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External links
- Pages with reference errors
- Dallas Cowboys currentteam parameter articles
- NFL player using deprecated currentteam parameter
- NFL player with pastcoaching parameter
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- Infobox NFL player with debut/final parameters
- Articles needing IPA cleanup
- Articles with hCards
- 1990 births
- Living people
- People from Ansbach
- German players of American football
- American football linebackers
- Wyoming Cowboys football players
- Dallas Cowboys players