Hello: Zak Zinter
This also happened recently: Michigan picked up a biglarge man to man the offensive line in the class of 2020. MA OL Zak Zinter had been leaning towards Michigan for a while now after Michigan overcame some early momentum towards regional rivals, and secured his commitment a few days ago.
Let's play the feud!
GURU RANKINGS
| Rivals | ESPN | 24/7 | Composite |
| 4*, #147 overall #16 OT, #3 MA |
4*, 80 rating #12 OG, #2 MA |
4*, #217 overall #21 OT, #2 MA |
4*, #332 overall #28 OT, #2 MA |
That composite must be glitched or out of date since the worst of the three rankings is ESPN's, where Zinter is the first guard outside of their top 300. As of April 4th Zinter was ~100 spots higher, and I'm almost certain there hasn't been a major drop anywhere since.
Anyway: universal four-star. The guard ranking from ESPN is relevant since Zinter is in the OL tweener zone.
[After THE JUMP: nasty guard]
SCOUTING
Despite two of the three recruiting services ranking Zinter as a tackle, I'd look at this as strictly an interior OL commitment. Zinter played guard last year, and the number of high school guards who kicked out to tackle I can remember is zero. Per Zinter, Warinner talked to him about playing across the line:
“They think I can play swing. … They think I can come in and play guard, and they think I can come in and play tackle. It is wherever they need me.” …"I played center as a freshman, tackle as a sophomore and guard last year. They said they really like my versatility. I will play anywhere.”
But virtual all of the scouting is interior OL. 24/7 player summary:
Strong, thick build best suited for guard … Quick feet and bends at knees. Sinks hips in running game…. Very good body control. Athleticism to pull. Physical and finishes blocks. Plays with nasty streak. … Needs to improve lateral quickness. Smart and high football IQ.
Notre Dame's 24/7 site had a film breakdown when they thought ND led that has a rare positive reference to pad level and also mentions potential issues if he was stuck on the edge:
….great pad level, which is a byproduct of quality knee bend. … adheres to the defender, brings his feet with leg drive and upper body strength … Foot speed as a pass blocker will be a challenge … natural instincts for trading off from one pass rusher to another.
And 24/7's Brian Dohn on the occasion of his commitment:
…guard is the best spot for him….athletic and he has quick feet. …gets out and pulls well… good body control when blocking in space. … When Zinter sinks his hips, his talent and ability jumps off the film. … drives his legs constantly and is willing to block down the field. … has the strength and technique to get on the field early at guard. He needs to increase his flexibility and technique to play on the edge in college … college-ready when it comes to upper body strength.
Steve Wiltfong called him a "strong, fit physical football player that can bend" and praised his run-blocking specifically; another ND writer at 24/7 said he "love[s] his technique" and "really love[s] his size". It wouldn't be a surprise to see 24/7 re-grade him as a guard at some point during the cycle.
Touch the Banner is in the same boat:
…looks like he could comfortably dress for an FBS team this fall …nasty attitude, bends well, and finishes blocks; he also does a good job of identifying and working combination blocks. …little bit limited athletically and does not move well side to side, nor does he have much quickness to pull.
His pulling looks fine to me, and in any case it looks like Michigan will be using that as a constraint going forward instead of a staple.
Rivals is more optimistic about Zinter in general and specifically on the edge. Regional analyst Adam Friedman:
"…absolutely massive guy who shows that he can move really well. … a great bender and he has the quickness and athleticism you look for out of a guy who can play tackle …good leg drive to be able to play in the interior of the line as well. … really moves guys off of the line of scrimmage."
That is an outlier opinion, and hopefully Michigan his past the era when they are forced to move guys like Mason Cole away from their best position.
[After THE JUMP: one hoity-toity school comin' up]
OFFERS
Zinter has a full suite of Midwest offers including Notre Dame, OSU, Penn State, and the rest of the Big Ten. He also landed offers from Auburn, UVA, several Ivies, BC, Pitt, Florida, Stanford, and Miami, amongst some others.
FWIW, Notre Dame's 24/7 site repeatedly stated that Zinter was slow-played by the Irish, but that seems like a face-saving technique after Tom Loy Loy'd it—Steve Lorenz was asserting that Michigan led some months ago, at the same time Loy was putting in an ND crystal ball and doing his usual. Trieu also asserted that Michigan "led for a long time" after his commit.
HIGH SCHOOL
Buckingham Brown & Nichols is a British law firm. It's also a school in Andover, Massachusetts full of like, barons and earls and stuff? They've sent the occasional two or three star prospect to BC, Wake, Stanford Northwestern, or Harvard. Zinter is the biggest prospect they've had since the dawn of the Rivals database.
Michigan has already offered 2022 BB&N linebacker Tyler Martin, FWIW.
STATS
Is OL, no.
FAKE 40 TIME
Is OL, no.
VIDEO
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
Redshirt and then probably a bit of a wait. Michigan loses both guards and possibly Cesar Ruiz after the season, so unless Zinter comes in as an immediate star—unlikely—he's going to be stuck behind some returning starters at guard. If the current depth chart holds up Chuck Filiaga and Joel Honigford will be senior starters when Zinter's in his second year. He should a major player in the free-for-all after those guys graduate.
Zinter looks like a good bet to hit. Universal praise for his bend, top-notch academics, and college-ready size mean the main question is whether he can hack pass pro on the interior. As we've seen often that's more about identifying who to block and technique than mobility, and Zinter should be able to manage that.
But he's an OL so who knows.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Zinter is the second OL in the class, joining three-star MD OL Micah Mazzccua. Mazzccua is a similar prospect who projects best to the interior line but could be a tackle with less than ideal pass protection if that's how it works out. In Trevor Keegan and Trente Jones Michigan has two clear tackle prospects in the 2019 class, with Karsen Barnhardt a potential third, so need on the outside isn't severe. It would still behoove Michigan to pick up at least one pure tackle prospect.
Michigan doesn't seem to have the edge for any particular prospect right now. There are no uncommitted 2020 OL with a single crystal ball in favor of Michigan. They'll have to come from behind or unearth someone.
this looks like a great pickup for Warrinner. Hopefully we can get another couple guys to join the class on the OL. Given our lack of depth for the last decade, I’m not sure we can have too many OL prospects committed. Moar please!
OT, but safe to say Micah Mazzccua will be the first Michigan football player ever with double z's and double c's consecutively in a name?
Joe Cocozzo was close, but no vape cigar.
do you mean Zakaronius Zoup Zintermeister? he'll be going by his full name at Michigan.
Michigan still has a couple more options for a pure OT prospect. Gentry (May take mission trip), Carmody, Harrison, Fashanu, Persi, Jeffers. All of them have the size to be tackles at least. I’m not knowledgeable enough to know who projects best where.
BBN is good academically, but not extraordinary. Their athletics have improved big time. I won wrestling against them (no, I wasn’t unusually good or anything), and now they are producing good football talent. You can be sure that if he graduates BBN, he’s in no danger of flunking out of UM, and little danger of off the field problems.
Funny thing is, unless I remember incorrectly, we always had a tri meet, where we wrestled them and St Mark’s in the same meet. St Mark’s was even less impressive athletically. Until some Canadian named Nik Stauskas went there and played basketball. I heard he was ok, but he was Just a Shooter. Something like that . . .
That composite must be glitched or out of date
The chart is wrong. His composite rank is 217. His 247 rank is 332. The author misread the 247 page and flipped the columns.
Large McHugePecs
Great interior pickup and glad to have him aboard. It will certainly be interesting to see how the rest of the OL in the class line up.
You never know, but given the seeming lack of buzz around Filiaga or Honigford after a couple years on campus, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone behind them beat out one or both of them to start.
I was going to say something similar. Filiaga has that "getting late early" feel (or whatever the saying is) where he was so highly touted coming in, you start to wonder if his ceiling just isn't that great. But who knows. Guys have vanished and then popped up again later in their careers, and it helps that he has a new position coach.
At this point I don't see any reason to think Filiaga is a bust. He's a sophomore (RS) listed as #2 behind Bredeson (a 5 star 4th year starter and likely draft choice). There was no reasonable expectation that he would pass him. Let's see what happens before we reach any conclusions.
We've seen a lot of Filiaga body types struggle at this level. Those kinds of top-heavy guys often struggle to adjust to the college game.
Filiaga got trucked by Glasgow in the spring game. No misdirection, no "was blocking another guy and came off late"; he was looking straight at him from several yards away, Glasgow came on a blitz and killed him, knocked him over. That absolutely cannot happen when you're a 300 lb OG at Michigan. I very much hope he proves me wrong, but he won't play here.
Glasgow is such a nice luxury to have backing up at Viper and LB.
Word on the street is that Honigford looked pretty good this spring.
"word is he looked good in the spring"
is the college football equivalent of
"the owner gave him a vote of confidence"
Need. More. Knights. :)
Zinter is coming
Too soon
This guy is so good that Brian put in two JUMPs!
Psyched we're getting Zak Zinter. Former boss of mine is named Zinter and I've been rooting for us to get this kid since his name popped up because I like my former boss.
That said, how is a kid that big, and that highly ranked playing guard in highschool? I played guard in hs and it seems like the smaller quicker guys always played guard and the behemoths would play tackle. Must be a huge hs to have the luxury of playing Zinter at guard.
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