Growing up in South Dakota, Grey Zabel had three passions that have stayed with him to this day.
Family, football and farming.
And the way the Seahawks’ first-round pick sees it, those things are connected. In fact, as Zabel noted not long after the Seahawks made the North Dakota State University guard the 18th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, a farming season and a football season have a lot in common.
“Growing up, working at the farm, and kind of understanding that farming and football have a lot in common,” Zabel said on a conference call from his hometown of Pierre, South Dakota. “You plant seed in the dirt in the spring and tend to it and try to get it as much as you can to grow a great crop in the fall, and football is the same exact way. You work all offseason to get your body strong, healthy, and then you go reap the benefits in the fall. Those three things are kind of what describes me, and I hold them pretty close to my heart.”
And speaking of family, Zabel comes from an athletic family, including his father, Mark, who played football Northern State in South Dakota, and his mom, Tanna, who was on the track and basketball teams there. Zabel’s brother, Jett, is a tight end at North Dakota State.
Given that his dad was a defensive lineman, Zabel was asked who would win if the two faced off, and as it turns out, they actually did, sort of, in an alley in Fargo.
“In a back alley in Fargo, there may have been a one-on-one rep with the majority of the Fargo media reporters watching us late at night after a big semi-final win here a few months ago,” Zabel said with a laugh. “Let’s just say I was able to handle him, but he’s going to be 60 here in July so I don’t know if that’s very impressive and if I should be bragging about that or not. Unbelievable parents, and competition in the truest form, for sure.”