Lombardi Candidate Purdue Nose Guard
Jeff is the type of guy you want in Y0!1r program. Not because he can run, jump or because he can lift heavy weights. It is because he's a competitor. I know he would be in condition if I never watched him a day. He's the type . of guy who runs after conditioning. Jeff is very knowledgeable about a proper diet. He's always trying to have the proper ratio of carbs, protein and fat. Hey! He is human and he has faults, but .if you give me .If) guys like him on a team, it would make me . look like I invented training.! On the topic of steroids, Jeff knows that people will always say that he is on steroids, I just wish people could have seen the progress over the years.
Yeah, he was born with genetic gifts but he works harder than anyone. We run a clean program and our random drug testing " program is very tough to fool! We give unannounced drug tests to the entire team all year long. The NCAA has also been in several times over the last two years. . Steve Little: Strength Co~ch Purdue University Jeff Zgonina (pronounced skah-NEE-nah) is headed for many post season honors and is one of 12 semifinalists for the prestigious Lombardi Award. Jeff has an amazing Parallel Squat. It's 865 pounds! That puts him at a unique level. Jeff accomplished that feet without a lifting suit but does wear knee wraps when he goes heavy.
Remember, 600 pounds is our Pro-Elite level for college lineman. This is difficult to attain if the athlete goes down to a true parallel position. Seven hundred pounds further separates those elite level athletes. I would estimate that there are less than ten football players who can Parallel Squat 700 or more pounds. Now 800 pounds is extremely rare. I know of only three players in college over the last decade to hit the 800 pound level. Terry Long from East Carolina University reportedly did a 900 pound squat in training. Terry was also a North Carolina Sta te Powerlifting Champion, so his squats were probably done at a parallel position.
Therefore, our hats are off to Jeff Zgonina, the Strongest Squatter in the 1990's among the college football ranks. Jeff also has a 475 pound Bench Press with a narrower type grip and a powerful Clean being able to 5 reps with 320 pounds. Jeff states, "The Power Clean helps a lot on my explosion and quickness off the ball." Jeff played high school ball at Carmel High School in Long Grove, Illinois. He was All-State, All-Area, AllCounty and All-Catholic. Jeff also played basketball, hockey and was a conference shot put champion with a 546 effort. In high school, Jeff Benched 415, Parallel Squatted 510 and even Dead Lifted in a Power Lifting meet.
Jeff was already huge at 6-2 260 and received scholarship offers from Illinois, Notre Dame and Purdue. Jeff liked defensive line coach Bill Koller and chose Purdue. Purdue is an exceptional university offering nearly 6,700 courses. Founded in 1869, Purdue now has as enrollment of over 36 thousand and has more than a quarter million living alumni. In 1990, the $9.3 million Mollenkopf Athletic Center was completed. It contains an indoor practice field covered with 92,400 Square feet of "Astro Turf" and weight training room. The field is 420 feet long and 220 feet wide. It's 86 feet high! The new weight training room covers more than 14,000 square feet! It doesn't"!
stop there, Purdue's stadium seats 67,861, the largest in Indiana , which also features a $1 million electronic scoreboard and message center. Steve Little is in his second year as Purdue's Strength and Conditioning Coordinator. Coach Little's philosophy is simple: "Work hard and take it one day, one lift, one repetition at a time. Train the entire body and never take for granted that you are too strong or too fast. The harder you work in the weight room, the better athlete you become on the football field." Jeff has a similar philosophy, "It starts in the weight room. I want to be a strength coach or maybe run my own gym. I'd like to get my guys ready."
Jeff has his sights set SQUAT: 840 BENCH: 475 V.J.: 361/2 40: 4.85 ALL-AMERICA LOMBARDI AWARD OUTLAND TROPHY CANDIDATE on ultimately being a stren gth coach in the NFL. He will graduate in December w ith a Community Health Promotions and Education degree and has maintained a B minus average. Jeff red-shirted in 1988 and went down to 230 pounds so he could play linebacker but he lost a lot of strength. He really felt out of place since he'd played defen sive line all through high school. Strength Coa ch Russ Rider, who is now with the Bears, gave Jeff inten se workou ts starting at 6:00 AM during that freshman year. In-sea son workouts were really like off-season w orkouts.
Plyometrics and speed workouts were also done. "1 like to break down the components of speed down. I watch our fast guys and try to be like them," said Jeff. In the weight room, Jeff's philosophy is int ens e, "1 push myself to the limit. I want to blow everyone away on the team. I want my records to last. In my freshman year, there were guys stronger, so I had to beat them." Jeff has long been an admirer of famous nose guard Chris Zorich and says, "1 want to be bigger and somed ay be as good or better. It'd be nice to be in an elite group like that." Jeff' s parents have not missed a gam e a nd have provided a wonderful mod el for him to follow.
He has two "Jeff Zgonina's a tough guy to block one-on-one. We have some decent offensive linemen, but we can't pass block the guy one -on-one. Maybe there are guys in the league who can, but we're going to try and get him in a position to make plays . He's physically good enough that if he plays at a high level of intensity and the offensive lineman doesn't get much help, Jeff has a chance to make a lot of plays." Jim Colletto: Head Football Coach, Purdue sisters and one is a bodybuilder. Jeff who wants to hav e a nice big family of his own somed ay has developed strong feelin gs ag ainst negative peer pr essure. "I went to a private high school and a lot of kids did street drugs.
It screwed th em up mentally. They had no edge. It told th em th at dru gs weren't for me . I really didn't have that man y true friends in high scho ol. If kid s did drugs I reall y d idn't associa te with them. My one tru e friend and I stayed away from it and w e're best friend s today. If I did go to a party, I ended up being the driver. I didn't allow peer pressure to control me . My parent s brought me up th at way. You know, one of my motivations for st aying clean was my par ents. I would never want to disgr ace my family. I cou ld never stand my parents coming to the hospital or d own to the police sta tion."
At Purdu e, Je ff does a lot o f vo lu n te e r w o r k in helping hi gh school kids "Ju s t say NO to drugs." "In college," says Jeff, "I just walk aw ay and do something else. I believe God ga ve me my mind a nd body for a purpose. I want to be a good example and role model." Jeff fits our d efinition of an Upper Limit athlete and offers thi s ad vise, "Se t yo ur goals high and go for it . I se t new goa ls ev ery d ay. I think a bo u t what I wa n t to accom plish. It pushes me hard er in every practice a nd every game. I write in my journal ev er yda y about w ha t I did that day and what I want to accom p lish . To wind down, I write in my journal maybe for 30 minutes.
On ce I start it flow s. It clears my mind." The Lombard i Award is go al Jeff has wo rked hard for th e last four yea rs. Thi s goal h elp s me pl ay harder every Saturda y. He'd lik e to bring th e troph y to Purdue as they' ve nev er had a major indi v idual football a ward winner before. Vince Lombardi died an untimely d eath by canc er in 1970 and th e trophy named for th is legend ary coach is a 40-pound block of gran ite atop a silver pedestal built ov er a foundati on of di scipline. I know Coach Lombardi would be proud to give it to Jeff Zgon in a.
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From BFS Magazine — Winter 1992. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
