#91 Zakir Abdul-Salaam
6’3”, 246 | DE | McEachern HS
Ever since Jerry Mack unveiled his Pettway on Grass sales pitch last summer, we’ve usually talked about that shared identity in an offensive context - pace, spacing, and the points both teams rack up. That uptempo, ultra-spread style clearly works: Kennesaw State became the first CUSA school to win the football and men’s hoops championships in the same year since Louisville in ‘04-’05.
In terms of roster management, Kennesaw State’s defensive line makes even more sense as a cross-sport comparison. Freshmen edges Zakir Abdul-Salaam, Connor Coxwell and Amarion Jones all remind me of a recruiting class Pettway would throw into the fire with early opportunities to prove themselves. The trio of in-state recruits comes to Kennesaw with three-star status and each of them claimed offers from P4 leagues at points during the process. That doesn’t feel much different than a guy like Braedan Lue ending up at KSU as a freshman power forward after offers from places like Penn State and Cal.
Coming off a year where two true freshman defensive linemen - Elijah Hill and Jackson Cooper - played from day one, another early contribution from one of these new Owls helps the Owls stretch the rev share budget even further. That’s the most cost-effective way to operate, particularly at a premium position like DE where “even just an average starting edge rusher can command in the $700,000 range,” according to CBS Sports.
As Mack told on3 earlier this offseason, his Kennesaw State regime is willing to play guys early and help “create options for themselves), whether that’s here (Cooper) or elsewhere (Hill). “I tell these guys when we recruit them, whether they’re transfers or whether they’re incoming high school players, if you’re leaving for what would be a better financial opportunity, that means that we have probably done something right, and we’ve had success.”
On the field, Marc Mattioli’s tweener-friendly system can find a role for almost anybody. The Owls bounce back and forth between three-down and four-down looks, giving ample opportunities for different players to fill a role in the front six. 11 different Owls defensive linemen played at least 100 snaps last season, including those two freshmen who saw immediate minutes against Wake Forest in the opener. You can track that early DL usage right into signing this current class, and also guys like ‘27 DT Braylon Cone committing this week, before his senior year.
Kennesaw’s defense also allows for plenty of specialization and unique packages. Take Hill for one example: The true freshman DE played right away and got a QB hurry on his first snap. He become such a force rushing the passer that he made led the league in sacks (9) and made first-team All-CUSA despite only playing 29% of snaps. To extend the basketball metaphor, that’s the equivalent of leading the league in scoring while playing roughly 11 minutes per game. These are all the CUSA DL with 250+ snaps last season, plotted out according to PFF grades in pass rush and run defense.
Better pash rushers to the top, better run defenders to the right.
Nobody in CUSA saw a bigger spread between their two grades than the 44 points that separated Hill’s pass rush and run defense evaluation. The next closest was 25 points. Just like Adrian Wooley only wanted to go left during his one-and-done season in Kennesaw, Hill almost exclusively lined up on the left side of the defense on passing downs and tore up opposing tackles. By essentially every metric Hill was CUSA’s best pass rusher, yet the KSU staff did not trust him against the run whatsoever, with less than 90 reps total in run defense. That didn’t stop Kansas State from dropping a bag midway through the portal window to convince Hill to transfer.
KSU doesn’t always need conventional body types or finished products to get them on the field. Some of the cruiserweight passing down packages - like the Hill, Donovan Westmoreland, Tylon Dunlap, and Marcus Patterson front - are sort of an alternate reality version of Pettway’s gigantimax lineup with 6’9” Trey Simpson as the two-guard and 230-pound RJ Johnson as the smallest guy on the court. The flexibility gives much more opportunities to find the best situational lineup and mold the scheme to fit the players.
As base positions, KSU’s edge sorting hat put the three freshmen into the following categories, with Abdul-Salaam and Coxwell poised to join the bigger true DE role and Jones, the most explosive of the three, starting his career at Rush - Kennesaw’s terminology for the a hybrid DE/OLB.
DE: Marcus Patterson, Ugonna Nwoha, Nasir Smith, Montra Sanford (listed as a LB but who knows), Zakir Abdul-Salaam, Connor Coxwell
Rush: Donovan Westmoreland, Corey Kelly, Byron Jackson, Kai Russell, Charlie Robinson, Jeremy Greaves, Jr., Amarion Jones
Late additions of Greaves (Bethune Cookman) and Robinson (JUCO with a stop at LA Tech beforehand) make me wonder if it’s more likely than not we could see a serious contribution from one of the freshman, or at least from somebody under the radar. Byron Jackson’s also back for year two after keeping his redshirt and could be in the mix. I guess that would make him the Brendan Tousignaut in this extended basketball comp.
As the only one of the freshman trio to enroll mid-year (the other two played basketball, ironically), could Abdul-Salaam be the first to earn minutes? He hit the scene early at McEachern, as you’d expect from a player who’s been an All-Region caliber player in McEachern’s lineup since 2023. Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia Tech, and Indiana all took notice and extended offers at some stage of the cycle. Whether or not those offers were committable by his senior year, there will still be a lot of eyes on Abdul-Salaam already to see how his development plays out during his early days in Kennesaw. Coming from a loaded program like McEachern, Abdul-Salaam’s adjustment to college ball might progress at a quicker rate than most, too. That reminds me of Cooper, who was ready to go quicker than his recruiting pedigree might’ve suggested after spending his senior year lining up against top-tier talent at IMG.
Entering his freshman season, KSU lists him at 246 pounds - less than 15 pounds away from Patterson’s 6’3”, 260 frame. That feels like the layup move to put Abdul-Salaam in line to follow in Patterson’s footsteps, especially if he can add close that size gap with good weight. Considering that KSU got a ton of productivity out of a 266-pound DT/DE combo last year in Dunlap, we’re looking at a wide variety of options across that versatile front - with a staff that’s not afraid to figure out ways to use Abdul-Salaam early on.
