Zaire Angoy might just be the Popeye of Rutgers football, a new-found love for spinach combined with a healthier diet is likely to have a serious impact on his snap count this season.
That wasn’t always the case for Angoy during his time at Rutgers. But an unrelenting pursuit to better himself helped land Angoy in a spot this spring to make some noise at defensive tackle.
Rewind back to 2020 and Angoy was just finishing up with his final year of high school. Angoy had committed to Rutgers and head coach Greg Schiano, a three-star prospect who was the No. 21 recruit in New Jersey.
He was projected to be a multi-year impact player at defensive tackle for the Scarlet Knights. Then the world changed.
That spring of 2020, COVID-19 hit and Angoy’s plans for football stopped. Well, except for Angoy’s weight.
That, it turns out, would change dramatically.
As a senior at Irvington High School (Irvington, New Jersey), he consistently weighed in around 330 pounds. But with COVID-19 shutting things down and with no way to work out, Angoy began to let bad habits slip in.
Snacking, unhealthy food and a lack of activity led Angoy’s weight to balloon. Upon arriving at Rutgers, Angoy was 375 pounds.
As of last week, Angoy was in at 312 pounds.
His new best friends? The Stairmaster and spinach.
“I was always athletic, so the athleticism was always there,” Angoy told Rutgers Wire.
“But now getting athletic and faster, mastering my craft – has gotten me there and healthy.
“The diet was good (in) high school. You know, in high school I was doing good. Me and coach Smoke (Irvington’s highly-respected head coach Ashley Pierre) put me on a plan. I started wrestling. I brought down my weight in high school. Then obviously whenCOVID hit, (I) wasn’t practicing as much. I got the weight back.”
The weight came back, he says, and then some.
“I was 330 (pounds) during COVID. So I kind of gained another 45 pounds,” Angoy said.
“It was like choices, made bad choices…bad choices.”
Angoy’s voice trails off for a moment as if he is reminded of how far he has come over the past four years.
“Eating habits and not playing led to it,” Angoy said.
“Obviously, because we used to work out then go home and then we didn’t work out that much during COVID.”
Enter Jay Butler, the director of Rutgers football’s sports performance program. Angoy realized that his strength was still there but the conditioning component was lacking.
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He struggled during practice and workouts because of all the weight.
Angoy bought into Butler’s plan to not just re-shape his body, but create a positive, healthy lifestyle. One that Angoy could maintain and keep at any time, in any place.
A second figure walked into Angoy’s life last year and that was [autotag]Isaiah Iton[/autotag].
Out of the transfer portal, Iton came to Rutgers from Ole Miss searching for playing time. He connected with [autotag]Marquise Watson[/autotag], formerly an assistant at Ole Miss who was the defensive line coach last year at Rutgers.
Iton sought more playing time at Rutgers, and he found it, having a strong season. But he also found a willing and eager pupil in Angoy.
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On and off the field, Angoy watched Iton’s dedication to this opportunity at Rutgers. Now it might well be Angoy who steps up this fall and finds a starting job in the interior of the Rutgers defensive line.
“Isaiah – something people don’t know about him – he has great eating habits, he eats nothing but spinach. His diet is really good. The guy is really good, he has great eating habits,” Angoy said.
“As far as his physicality, him coming off the ball is really good. He stays low. That’s one thing I learned from him.”
Iton likes steamed spinach and that’s the way Angoy now consumes it, often with chicken in a salad. It is now a part of his diet at least three times a week.
Last season, Angoy finished with 10 total tackles for Rutgers.
