2020 NFL Draft: Temple’s Zack Mesday a modern day Rudy story

Temple’s Zack Mesday is an example of fortitude and perseverance, and he’s hoping his story continues into the NFL as a 2020 NFL Draft prospect.

If you want what most people have, do what most people do. If you want what few people have…

Temple defensive end Zack Mesday found himself a walk-on with the Owls in 2014, watching the scholarship players and mimicking their every move.

Mesday had just spent a year after his high school days as a post-grad emailing schools and coaches around the country at every level. He was going to play college ball no matter what, but preferably on a scholarship.

Unfortunately, despite his outstanding production, Mesday’s size didn’t match up with his position and only netted him a couple of partial scholarship offers and an opportunity to join Temple as a walk-on late in the recruiting process. After considering the cost along with the fact that he wanted to play at the highest level of college ball, Mesday decided to join the Owls, who at the time were coached by Matt Rhule, now the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.

Rhule and his staff took a shot on Mesday, whose 6-foot-1, 245-pound frame was more befitting of a traditional fullback rather than a quarterback hunter off the edge.

Mesday spent his first year in Philadelphia working on the scout team, running down kickoffs, trying to put anything on practice tape to convince the coaching staff that he belonged on the field, and then his road got even tougher.

On the last day of practice a few weeks into the program, he was running down a kickoff and his knee gave out on him.

He didn’t think much of it as a walk-on player who was going to simply redshirt anyway, so he put in the work to get himself physically ready for his redshirt freshman season, spent his six months rehabbing and getting back to 100 percent.

After being cleared six months later and taking part in offseason camp again, Mesday was rolled up on in a practice of his redshirt freshman season, finished practice, and found out later on that he had torn his ACL and meniscus.

That resulted in a grueling 12-month recovery, causing Mesday to miss not only his entire redshirt freshman season but also half of his redshirt sophomore season.

Talk about a gut check for a guy who was paying his way to be part of this team.

Nearly three years into his college journey, Mesday finally got his shot on the field, but it came quite unexpectedly.

Like a scene out of Rudy, Mesday was called into the game by head coach Matt Rhule against East Carolina, but Rhule’s call caught Mesday off guard.

Temple was on offense. Mesday, of course, played defense but wasn’t going to miss this chance. He sprinted out onto the field and took what he was offered.

The play call was meant to be a kneel down, but Temple had a backup quarterback in the game, and he missed the call and accidentally called a regular play.

"“It was kind of like destiny for me to go out there as a fullback for some reason and him mess up the play and actually get my shot in college football.”"

Dude…that was kind of like your Rudy moment right there!

"“Well, if it ended there it would have been like Rudy.”"

After that huge moment, Mesday knew that the coaching staff at Temple hadn’t forgotten about him, and he was just going to see where that moment took him.

A month later, Rhule and basically his whole staff left. Rhule took a job with Baylor, and was replaced at Temple by Geoff Collins, the defensive coordinator at Florida.

"“What if the new staff, they cut me? Like I’m a walk-on, two ACL’s, I’ve never played — they could just get rid of me.”"

Mesday did the only thing he could do — control his work habits and make the best first impression he could.

He said that offseason, the team had workout competitions and all offseason, he didn’t lose a single rep. A week out from Spring camp, he got called into coach Collins’ office, and he was offered a chance to play defensive end instead of linebacker, a more natural position for him.

Going into that season (2017, redshirt junior) Mesday worked on special teams primarily but played on the scout team defense behind some talented upperclassmen. He learned all he could while putting in work on special teams, making an impact in that phase.

In 2018, he got his shot on defense.

He racked up 33 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and a pair of forced fumbles including a huge game against UConn with eight total tackles and three tackles for loss. As a fifth-year player, though, was that it? Was that his one shot to show he belonged at the highest level?

Coming up on Senior Day, he was again called into Coach Collins’ office.

"“He goes, ‘How do you feel about coming back for another year?’I was like, what do you mean?He said, ‘With your injuries, you sat out almost four seasons. We can get you an extra year of eligibility.’I was like, well yeah I’ll come back but I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it.He goes, ‘We got you.'”"

In front of the whole team, the coach told everyone that Mesday was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA and not only that — he would also be playing on a full scholarship.

Six years after graduating high school, the guy who was once considered too short to play college football at the highest level, sending out emails to any and every school he could think of, was now on scholarship at one of the top football programs in the country.

But it still wasn’t smooth sailing from there.

Coach Collins took a job at Georgia Tech after the 2018 season and was replaced by Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey.

Once again, Mesday felt like it was up to chance whether or not he would be on scholarship with a new coaching staff.

Would they recognize the promise the previous regime made? 

The parallels to Rudy are uncanny.

Not only did Carey’s regime grant Mesday’s scholarship in 2019, but Mesday became a full-time starter for the Owls’ defense.

"“That was just — everything I worked for, I knew I had to take a chance on myself. I’m glad I did because, it was either I didn’t go to college, I played D-II ball somewhere I didn’t want to be, or I just stopped playing football altogether. It just shows that if you just keep pushing through it, eventually it’s going to happen.”"

Mesday’s senior season went well, racking up 24 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four sacks, and perhaps most importantly — a full 13 game slate.

Mesday feels like his experience of paying so many dues gives him an edge going forward as he prepares for the 2020 NFL Draft. He thinks there are plenty of players in this draft class (or any other) who have never experienced any kind of adversity as big-time prospects with high expectations and their roles basically pre-determined. He feels that his understanding of his role on the team — practice squad, active roster, or whatever it may be — gives him a competitive edge that will keep him in it mentally whereas other guys who are not used to having to necessarily scratch and claw their way onto the team won’t.

The survival of the fittest is critical in the NFL.

His physical style of play and special teams ability are obviously positive qualities that translate to the next level, but Mesday is going to have to prove he can hang with NFL offensive linemen as an undersized defender.

Thankfully for him, he’s got a huge advocate in the NFL in Matt Rhule who knows a thing or two about Mesday’s two-way versatility and special teams ability.

He doesn’t mind his role as the underdog, he’s used to the odds being stacked against him.