How can we translate 不是……胜似 into English? I just saw a friend's profile saying: Not a geek, but like a geek.

Somehow I immediately translated it as 不是geek胜似geek. But it seems not right since 

I feel that 不是geek胜似geek is much semantically richer than the original English version. 

Thus, I wonder how to translate 不是geek胜似geek into English so that it makes more sense.
I prefer "Not a geek, but more than a geek"

Example, This man has profound knowledge of ancient China. he is not a professor, but I think he is more than a professor.