54 Days to Purdue Football: Mike Zeigler

Purude’s competition at defensive end is wide open. Today’s player could be one that gets a shot at the position.

Mike Zeigler - Jr.

Springfield, IL (Sacred Heart Griffin HS)

6’4”, 260 pounds

Defensive End

2018 Projection: Reserve at Defensive End

Zeigler had a prestigeous high school career before starting his college career at Southern Illinois in 2015. He won consecutive state championships with Sacred Heart Griffin and led teams to a 29-0 record in that time.

That was good enough for him to end up at Southern Illinois. He didn’t accumulate any stats on a Southern Illinois teamt hat went 3-8, but came within a missed 2-point conversion of beating Indiana.

After the 2015 season he transferred to Purdue, where his dad played. Here is an article on why he transferred:

The Southern Illinois redshirt freshman will transfer after wrapping up the semester in Carbondale, and he’ll make his way northeast to Purdue. That’s where his dad Mark. Zeigler (SHG ‘72) played -- as well as Miami (Fla.) -- before suffering a career-ending injury.

For Michael, a 253-pound biology major, it came down to a desire to play at the college game’s highest level. He’ll have to sit out a year, but he’ll still have three years of eligibility and will get a chance to bulk up for the physical play of Big Ten ball.

He has yet to play a down for us, but may get a look this year on special teams.