It’s no surprise that Van den Berg has excelled as an athlete. His grandfather, Francoise van den Berg, was a bodybuilder who was a two-time finalist at Mr. Universe competitions in 1966 and ’67, the latter of which was won by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Van den Berg’s grandmother, Joan Ricci, set multiple South African national swimming records.
After not being invited to the NFL Combine, Van den Berg displayed his athleticism at Georgia Tech’s Pro Day, bench-pressing 225 pounds 35 times and recording a 4.9 in the 40, a 9-foot-11 broad jump and a 36-inch vertical jump.
Asked to identify his best trait, Van den Berg said: “I’ll definitely say my explosiveness. I feel like that’s something I pride myself on, being able to be strong at the point of attack like with my broad jump and my vert. Every day I’m training I’m trying to go as fast as I can.”
Van den Berg is excited about joining the Bears, especially learning from veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Van den Berg’s defensive line coach at Georgia Tech, Jess Simpson, served as Jarrett’s position coach with the Falcons in 2019-20.
“Because he was the Falcons’ D-line coach, we used to watch [Jarrett’s] teach tape all the time,” Van den Berg said. “That’s something that I aspire to be like one day. I’m excited to learn. I can’t wait to absorb all the information from him.”
