Previously: Last year's profiles. S Makari Paige, S RJ Moten, S Jordan Morant, CB Andre Seldon, CB Darion Green-Warren, CB Eamonn Dennis, VP William "Apache" Mohan, LB Nikhai Hill-Green, LB Kalel Mullings, LB Cornell Wheeler, LB Osman Savage, DE Aaron Lewis, DE Jaylen Harrell, DE Braiden McGregor, DT Kris Jenkins, OL Reece Atteberry.

North Andover, MA – 6'6", 300
		24/7	3*, 89 rating #18 OG, #4 MA
		Rivals	4*, #145 overall #14 OT, #3 MA
		ESPN	4*, 80 rating #14 OG, #3 MA
		Composite	4*, #264 overall #10 OG, #3 MA
		Other Suitors	ND, OSU, PSU, NW
		YMRMFSPA	Kyle Kalis
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from yrs truly.
Notes	Twitter. Early enrollee.
Film
Senior Year:

There is a certain genre of offensive line tape where the opponents are so overmatched that it's close to useless for projecting a prospect but is nonetheless fascinating for the same reason nature documentaries are. Zak Zinter's tape is in this genre. On most of the clips above he hops on a guy he's pancaked; on the very last one he appears to treat the poor bastard under him like a surfboard, pretending to paddle.

Recruiting must soldier on in trying circumstances, though, and since Zinter was a major Notre Dame prospect we have a fair number of attempts to project Zinter against someone other than Balin, Dwalin, Gloin, and Oin. You may have noted that Zinter plays guard in his tape, which is even more unusual than a D-1 prospect playing center. The scouting fits that deployment. Brian Dohn:

…doesn’t do a lot of camps … really long, and he was really a lot thinner than I thought he would be – in a good way.  Really strong kid. [has] to work a little bit on his flexibility … really overwhelms you with his physical style of play … going to take a little bit of time, just in terms of improving his athleticism a little bit.

[After THE JUMP: bendy man does mean things]

ND 24/7 guy Tim Prister:

… aggression, raw power and a real nasty streak. … great pad level, which is a byproduct of quality knee bend. … plays with a wide base and works to get underneath the pads of his opponent … adheres to the defender, brings his feet with leg drive and upper body strength … Foot speed as a pass blocker will be a challenge.

Prister bombed Zinter's tendency to sit on people after blowing them up, drawing a virtual fist-bump from these parts when he called pancakes "vastly overrated" on the prep level. Zinter's film is impressive despite the tendency to sit on accountants, not because of it. You'd much rather see him pull the Khalid Hill and move on to the next guy after deleting the first.

Anyway. Touch The Banner:

… large body who looks like he could comfortably dress for an FBS team this fall … plays with a nasty attitude, bends well, and finishes blocks; he also does a good job of identifying and working combination blocks. As a pass blocker, he anchors well against bull rushes, and he does a nice job with his hand placement. … a little bit limited athletically and does not move well side to side, nor does he have much quickness to pull. … more athletic college defenders are going to cause him trouble.

Harry Hillman at MGoFish:

…tenacity in finishing blocks. … incredible leg drive … superb job with his hand placement. Very rarely will you see his hands work outside the frame. … Every movement, every step, every punch is methodical with the goal of beating some ass. … needs to work on his explosiveness at the point of attack … I’d like to see Zinter develop a stronger and more limber kick step [in pass pro] … does show the athleticism to utilize pulling and lateral quickness in college.

One thing that pops out from these reports is consistent praise for various aspects of Zinter's run-blocking technique. That's doubly impressive since a lot of guys his size playing the kind of competition he has just lean on dudes, or place a hand on the opposition's forehead while he uselessly scrabbles at air. Zinter, on the other hand:

Zinter does an excellent job of squaring up his opponent, getting inside their body, dismantling them. He does this well within the line of scrimmage and while on the move – a task many high schoolers have difficulty accomplishing. Not Zinter. Instead, securing blocks in space is one of his assets. …great flexibility and the bend to match.

24/7s profile scout concurs; sprinkled within are notes that he has "quick feet" and "bends at the knees" and "sinks hips in running game." Caution is always warranted with OL scouting because there are a huge number of variables that can sink a prospect. It does feel like Zinter is unlikely to get tripped up by a number of them.

The main questions revolve around Zinter's mobility and weight. There were some highlighted bits of the scouting reports above that refer to his athleticism or foot speed as negatives. There are some more optimistic takes out there, primarily from Rivals:

"… absolutely massive guy who shows that he can move really well. … great bender and he has the quickness and athleticism you look for out of a guy who can play tackle on either side of the line …strong enough and has really good leg drive … good pass blocking instincts … really moves guys off of the line of scrimmage.

Rivals ranked him as a tackle and has him just inside their top 150; 24/7 and ESPN both see a guard close to the 3/4 star border. Dohn did call him "versatile" and a guy who has "the foot speed and length" to play tackle upon his commitment; that should probably be taken in context as "could happen in a pinch" since every other bit from 24/7 that mentions tackle quickly refocuses on his guardy guardness. Their profile scout mentions he has "length to play right tackle" but ends with

Needs to improve lateral quickness. Smart and high football IQ. Adding flexibility and ability to rotate upper body important. Development of kick step is important.

That's a lot of hurdles and one positive that's more important the closer you get to the ball. Despite the fact that Zinter was "primarily recruited as a tackle" per Lorenz back in April of 2019, the intervening year points towards the interior. This space projects him as a guard only.

Meanwhile Zinter was listed at 300 pounds early in his recruitment with "a lot of room to fill him out," per Friedman. That may have been light. When he hit up a PSU camp as a rising junior he was billed at 310. He looks larger than 300 flat on his senior tape, prompting Touch The Banner to wonder about him in a super-sized guard context when he hit Zinter on his season countdown:

I am as impressed by Zinter’s senior film as anyone’s, but I do have concerns about his ability to stay healthy. It seems that guys who are jumbo-sized entering college (Chris Fox, Chris Bryant, etc.) have a harder time staying healthy than the guys who grow into the position, and Zinter is a pretty big dude.

Fox had a devastating knee injury as a high school senior, a fate Zinter has avoided. If Zinter does "fill out"—not sure I've ever seen that term applied to a guy over 300 pounds—injuries could crop up as a problem.

Zinter's recruitment was extremely similar to Reece Atteberry's: lot of offers, some initial Ohio State talk, then all the Notre Dame people talking him up before a shift away and a Michigan commitment. Last April Zinter returned from a trip to OSU saying they "made it very clear they would like for me to commit there," but things didn't develop further as Zinter focused on the ND/M/Northwestern wing of CFB. (In February he told the Northwestern Rivals site that "high academics" were his top criteria, and he had various Ivy offers.)

 

On to ND. As per usual their folk were confident and had to hand-wave some stuff later.

My 247Sports Crystal Ball is on the Fighting Irish and I love that pick as of now. The key here is ensuring that when it comes down to it, there is a spot for him in this class … There are a couple of very talented interior guys for potentially only one spot if they are able to land their top two tackles. … I know for a fact that Notre Dame really likes Zinter as a player and a person, has no concerns about him

ND took just two tackles in their class; Zinter did not commit as expected. Did he get a turndown? Maybe, maybe not. Allen Trieu didn't think ND led at all:

“[Michigan] led a long time for (him), but there was some talk about Notre Dame and some other schools,”

What you believe will depend on the particular shades of blue and yellow-ish you subscribe to. There's a much stronger case that this was a straight-up win for M over their two primary regional rivals than there was with Atteberry.

Etc.: Michigan has offered Zinter's younger brother Preston, a 2023 prospect.

Why Kyle Kalis? A comparison sure to get a small but dedicated portion of the Michigan fanbase a-rabblin', so let me explain carefully: most of the time Kalis was a crunching guard who moved people and occasionally buried them. A small but critical minority of the time he would run right by a defensive lineman he obviously had to block. Drop that bit. Focus on Kalis, very much a guard who moves people with some pass protection issues. Not the guy you want to pull across the formation in an ideal situation but okay at it.

Kalis was a five-star recruit who started and was only okay; he went undrafted but has spent the last five years kicking around the fringes of the NFL. He probably should have been rated right around where Zinter is. Zinter, on the other hand, is a notch or two bigger. Kalis showed up in the NFL as a 6'4", ~310 pound guard. Zinter is there already and he's got two inches on Kalis.

Chuck Filiaga hasn't seen the field but has a similar story: guy who's huge and might could play tackle but is heavy and would have some issues in pass protection on the edge, sits in at guard and tries to break through. It's tough to compare anyone to Mike Onwenu but he's another giant guard who should have scaffolding.

 

Guru Reliability: High-minus. One of the more heavily scouted OL in the last couple years and wide consensus on most things except for the optimistic he's-a-tackle take from Rivals. Lack of camps and competition level take it back a notch.

 

Variance: Moderate. Level of competition provides some bust factor. Academics are a decent indicator he'll be able to hack it mentally at one of the more trying spots in football. Size not a question, seems to have advanced technique.

Ceiling: High-minus. Upside is a mid-to-late-round NFL pick at guard after a mauling career. Probably not going to be a top-end pass protector; probably not going to have every tool in the toolbox perfected.

General Excitement Level: High-minus. If we see Zinter early in his career that means several walls have caved in or Zinter's too much of a Godzilla to keep off the field. There's a decent shot at the latter.

Projection: We're projecting Zinter as an interior OL exclusively so his first opportunity will likely be a couple years off. When he's a redshirt sophomore Andrew Stueber and Jalen Mayfield will be gone (probably in the latter case, he'd have a fifth year if the NFL doesn't pick him off); he'll be rooting for Karsen Barnhart to kick out to tackle and give him cracks at two jobs. Major competition will be Nolan Rumler and Jack Stewart in the class ahead of him plus Atteberry in this one.

If there are two jobs he probably gets one. If not I'd give Rumler the edge there.