Atherton DL Ziggy Meads A UK Fan Who Is Hoping To Keep Adding College Offers

Zai'Vion "Ziggy" Meads had a lot of friends with him when he made an unofficial visit to UK this season.

By LARRY VAUGHT

His high school freshman season he was a 220-pound defensive end but got moved inside and that forced Zai’Vion “Ziggy” Meads to add weight and strength. Now he’s a 270-pound junior lineman at Atherton High School who hopes to be up to 290 or 295 pounds when he plays in college — and he already has 10 Division I offers.

“My trainer put me on a high protein diet. I don’t eat junk food. I eat a lot of chicken, steak, rice and vegetables,” said Meads. “I have one cheat meal a week. A lot of times I do want to eat other things but I have got to stay disciplined. If I see somebody eating pizza and fried chicken I can’t say I don’t want some but I know I can’t.”

The three-star lineman is a top 50 defensive lineman nationally in his recruiting class with big-time interest from Kentucky, Louisville, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern and others.

Meads has 32 tackles, eight tackles for loss, six quarterback hurries and five sacks in six games going into Friday’s game against Butler.

“I put in a whole lot of work in the offseason, so I expected to have a good season,” he said. “I have 10 offers and I hope that list grows. I want to have different options so I can decide the best fit for me and my family. The more options, the better. I hope to narrow the offers down going into my senior year. I am in constant contact with some schools who have not offered but I think some more offers are coming.”

Kentucky defensive line coach Anwar Stewart is one of the coaches who has contacted Meads.

“He checks in with me and I can tell he’s interested in me as a person as well as a player,” the Atherton junior said. “I really, really liked my visit to Kentucky. I talked with a lot of coaches. They treated us well. Me and coach Stewart text and talk frequently. I already have a relationship built with him. I got to talk to coach (Mark) Stoops. It was just fun to be there.”

He can tell Stewart if different from coaches at other schools.

“A lot of schools can offer but they do not all stay in communication as frequently as he does. I talk to him multiple times per game. He will ask me about my game and we talk about the Kentucky game,” Meads said. “He’s a really good person and a great coach. He has high energy all the time. I like that.”

Meads’ father is a “huge Kentucky fan” even though it is more about basketball.

“He played basketball, so he’s a huge Kentucky basketball fan. Since I was a kid if you asked me what team I liked I would say Kentucky because it just kind of grew on me,” Meads said. “My dad’s father is from Nicholasville. He is a big Kentucky fan and that grew on my dad and then it grew on me.”

He had a large contingent of friends with him when he made his visit to Kentucky, including friends he trains with at Aspiration Gym — the same gym where Wan’Dale Robinson trained — who also have UK offers.

“A lot of us played travel ball together with the Louisville Chargers,” Meads said. “We won a (youth) national championship two years in a row in 2018 and 2019 when we were 10 and 11 years old.”

Meads played basketball when he was younger but was so much bigger than everyone else that he never developed his skill set.

“I could get rebounds and be aggressive but I was not very good at dribbling and other stuff like that,” he said. “The last time I played basketball was in eighth grade. I just knew in high school I wanted to focus on football.

“That’s why I have learned to stay in the weight room, eat healthy and build muscle. I knew I had to be aggressive and stronger. When I was younger, I was tall but not very muscular. I was tall and lean. I finally figured out I had to put on muscle and that is what helps me now get pressure on the quarterback and beat double teams.”