Tag: Zak Zinter

Zak Zinter’s versatility gives Michigan OL multiple options

He’s been called #Michigan football’s best offensive player in recent weeks. #GoBlue

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Michigan has plenty of electric and exciting players on the offensive side of the ball at any of the skill level spots, which is why it was a little shocking when Josh Gattis said that Zak Zinter may be the best offensive player on the team last week during his press conference.

Zinter, a former four-star prospect from Massachusetts, started four games at right guard last during his his freshman season and appeared in all six games. The Wolverines offensive line had plenty of struggles last year as PFF ranked them as the ninth-worst run blocking team in all of the Big Ten. However, Zinter had the best run blocking grade of any Michigan lineman that played five or more games.

The sophomore offensive lineman could be a gigantic reason the offensive line woes of last year could turn into a strength. The maize and blue are testing the 6-foot-6 Zinter out at center during the fall camp, and it could pay major dividends when the season begins.

Offensive line coach Sherrone Moore spoke with the media during a Zoom conference about Zinter and the battle going on at center, noting that he could slide into the spot thought to be occupied by Andrew Vastardis.

“Yeah, he’s getting some reps there at center, and V (Vastardis) as well,” said Moore. “We’re really trying to keep them balanced, keep them all fresh, and making sure they understand each position – keep their variation going. Zinter is getting reps there as well as guard. We’re going to keep it rolling.”

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With Vastardis being the incumbent starter at the position, why would the Wolverines look at moving the Zinter to center? That’s not speaking ill of Vastardis, who had a decent season for the Wolverines, but the potential of Zinter is massive.

Moore later explained: “The versatility — he has everything you want as a lineman. Zinter is tall, big, strong, physical, athletic, and smart. He can make any call that may need made. He can block any defender, and he just does it with a violence and a physicality that you need and have to have. He is just very athletic; he has the versatility to do it. That’s the main reason we chose to be able to move him and move him and work him around – he has the versatility. If you can’t do it, there is no reason for us to do it. As coaches we have to be smart in how we manipulate players. What we talk about in our room – it’s like a slot receiver, you have to to put a slot receiver in the slot and you put an outside receiver on the outside. Some guys can move outside to in, and some can’t. It’s the same thing on the offensive line, we try to make sure we can do that with our guys.”

Michigan is looking to prioritize the run game once again this season according to both Josh Gattis and Sherrone Moore, after the offense got away from the ground game last year. Zinter will look to lead the way in helping the Wolverines achieve their goal wherever he lines up come the Sept. 4th opener against Western Michigan.

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Sherrone Moore’s emotion, energy and passion impressing Michigan OL

After working with TE for 3 years in Ann Arbor, Sherrone Moore is now coaching the OL. Here’s how one of his players thinks it’s going.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It was a huge surprise to those inside and outside of Michigan football when the program parted ways with Ed Warinner this offseason. The former Ohio State offensive coordinator had turned something of a moribund offensive line into a standout unit in the Big Ten, seemingly overnight, and put all five of his starters from 2019 into the NFL (pending Jalen Mayfield’s 2021 NFL draft selection).

But the man replacing Warinner is no slouch himself, though he’s relatively unproven coaching the position. But he’s not unproven at the position altogether.

Sherrone Moore played 14 games at offensive guard for the Oklahoma Sooners before becoming a tight ends coach, first at Louisville and then at Central Michigan. In Ann Arbor, he’s worked with the tight ends since 2018, but now he’s gotten the opportunity to coach his native position group.

Now with nearly a month of spring ball under his belt, sophomore offensive guard Zak Zinter says that while it was great to learn from Warinner in 2020, he’s enjoying what Moore brings to the table as his new position coach.

“You know, they’re both great coaches. It’s fun to learn from someone new,” Zinter said. “Coach Moore played the position obviously at Oklahoma. He’s bringing a lot of energy at practice. And I love learning from him so far.”

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So, why does Zinter love learning from Moore?

Part of the appeal to the offensive line isn’t just the positional familiarity, but the overall passion that Moore brings to coaching. Zinter says that it’s evident how much the former Sooners lineman puts into getting the best out of his players and that it’s certainly paying off.

“He’s definitely brought a new energy to the offensive line,” Zinter said. “The emotion and the passion that he has for the game, he wants us to get better every single day. He puts everything he’s got into it. It really shows to us as players, the passion and emotion he brings to practice. It’s been awesome.”

In addition to being the Wolverines’ new offensive line coach, Moore also was named the Michigan football co-offensive coordinator.

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Michigan football grades from Big Ten Week 3 loss against Indiana

Michigan football stumbled in the 38-21 loss to Indiana yesterday. How did each position grade out in the season-defining loss?

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The 2020 Michigan football team suffered a season-defining 38-21 loss Saturday to Indiana as it lost to the Hoosiers for the first time since 1987. This loss eliminates any hopes and dreams for the Wolverines to hoist a championship trophy, whether in the conference or in front of the country.

The Wolverines offense once again wasn’t able to put up points after failing to put up over 24 points last week. The running game didn’t exist, and the Wolverines needed to sling the ball around to try and spark a comeback. The defense for Michigan was a huge issue as well. It didn’t have an answer for Indiana’s passing attack: The secondary was torched all day.

While this loss doesn’t hurt as badly as the loss last week, considering Michigan State lost to Iowa 49-7 this week, it still isn’t what Michigan needed to show in front of the country. Indiana is a good football team. On paper, Michigan is better, but when it came to it happening on the field, the Hoosiers were the better team yesterday. How did each position do in the loss?

Offense

Quarterback: C+

Starting quarterback, Joe Milton was asked to pull this offense out of the hole they were put in and lead them to another comeback. While he didn’t throw the football as much as he did last week, Milton could still make some good plays, but it could have been a better showing for the young quarterback. Milton finished the game going 18-of-34 for 344 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, along with five carries for negative-9 yards.

Milton had to escape pressure many times and was sacked three times. The first interception Milton threw was a mistake solely on Milton. He seemed to have underthrown a pass, but that wasn’t the issue itself. He didn’t see cornerback Jaylin Williams near the receiver as he intercepted the pass. The second interception he needed to make a play and threw it deep. That one you can’t blame him for entirely.

Milton also didn’t have the help he was looking for during the game. Multiple players dropped passes they should have caught, but they aren’t alone in the mistakes. Milton overthrew a few passes and was just a touch too hard on his throws. Twice his receivers had to dive for the ball, and both came up just short. It was Milton’s worst game as the starting quarterback, and for his worst performance so far, it still wasn’t a bad game overall.

Running Back: D

The rushing attack saw no life against the Hoosiers. Hassan Haskins saw the most carries with six for 19 yards; he was the leading rusher. Chris Evans was next with three carries for five yards. Zach Charbonnet only had one carry for four yards. Now the poor grade for the running backs isn’t all on them. With no holes created by the offensive line, the backs struggled to move the ball forward.

Michigan had to abandon the running game being down by 17 at halftime, so they weren’t given much of a chance in the final two quarters. When the running game fails to live up to expectations for the Wolverines, the offense struggles as a whole.

Wide Receiver: C+

Though the team had 344 yards through the air, one wide receiver had almost half of those yards. Ronnie Bell had six catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Another wide receiver that had a big day was Cornelius Johnson, who finished with four catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. Freshman wide receiver Roman Wilson was the final receiver to catch a touchdown on his lone catch for 13 yards.

While some big plays were made by the receivers catching the ball, they also made big plays by dropping the ball. Some of the throws were overthrown or too high for them; that is on Milton. Others were right in the breadbasket, and they couldn’t hold on. They didn’t have issues getting open against Indiana, but they had issues holding onto the football, and when you can’t run the football and struggle to catch it, your offense will continue to fail over and over again.

Tight End: D

Another unit that had issues with drops was tight end. Starter Nick Eubanks had one catch for 22 yards but had a drop as well. Backup Erick All had a drop as well as that would be his only target of the game. The groups blocking didn’t help the running game either, and both of them need to have a better game next week if they are going to try and win.

Offensive line: F

With two starters out of the lineup, no position saw a bigger challenge than the offensive line. Even with two new starters, left tackle Karsen Barnhart and left guard Zak Zinter, the offensive line shouldn’t have performed this poorly. They struggled to keep Milton free from pressure: He was sacked three times and had to escape the pocket to try and keep passing plays alive too many times. The running game suffered the most with the way the offensive line played. If this unit isn’t able to fix its problems, this season could get even worse.

Now onto the defense and special teams…
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Fixing Michigan’s offensive line is the key for a 2020 turnaround

No unit on the offense has struggled more for Michigan football than the offensive line. If they can turn it around, the season can change.

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It’s year two under the speed in space offense run by Michigan offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. Last year it showed flashes of what it could be, but it wasn’t up to par. With another year of learning, this offense has a chance to put up points week in and week out. There’s just one problem with that so far this season, and it’s the offensive line.

The offensive line was known to be taking a backseat in 2020. Despite having a great offensive line coach in Ed Warinner, it wasn’t looking well for the group. With four new starters among the line, it was well documented that this unit wouldn’t be as good as they were the year before.

Against Minnesota, that seemed to be gibberish. The offensive line kept Milton up almost all night with just allowing one sack, and it was on the first series of the game. The ground game was able to churn out yards and get into the endzone, finishing with 256 yards and five touchdowns on 31 carries.

The unit seemed like it wouldn’t be a problem, like many expected. Then came the next game against Michigan State. Michigan was getting no push from its lineman and the ground game that worked well the week before was stagnant and not itself. The team was only able to get 152 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries. So with more carries, Michigan got over 100 fewer yards and two fewer scores. What hurt the team the most that game was losing starting right tackle, Jalen Mayfield.

This week against Indiana, Warinner needed to show that the depth he had at his positions were stout. The team wouldn’t see Mayfield play against Indiana, but they also wouldn’t see starting left tackle Ryan Hayes either, so now both starting tackles are injured for the Wolverines.

The offensive line would see a dramatic shift as Karsen Barnhart would start at left tackle. Zak Zinter would start at left guard. Andrew Vastardis would remain at center, while Chuck Filiaga would flip from left to right guard, and Andrew Stueber would move from right guard to right tackle. Stuber played right tackle before the 2020 season, so luckily, he’s had experience before at that position.

Heading into the matchup today, despite being weakened at the position, Michigan had a chance to run all around the Hoosiers defense. Against Penn State, Indiana allowed 250 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries. The week after against Rutgers, they allowed 121 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries. If you average those two up, Indiana allowed an average of 185.5 yards per game and an average of 4.4 yards per carry.

Today against Michigan, Indiana eradicated the Wolverines running game. Michigan was only able to get a measly 13 yards on 18 carries. That’s .72 yards per carry. Those numbers are unheard of when talking about Michigan football. Michigan is known for being a smashmouth running team that will make you pay for everything in the trenches. The trenches today for the Wolverines ran dry.

The theme of a poor offensive line continues to define the offense this season. When Michigan isn’t able to run the football well, the offense takes a hit. Despite the speed in space type of offense Gattis runs, it still needs the running game to be relevant because if it dies, so does the offense. In both losses, Michigan was not able to get the ball moving on the ground. They struggled with that against Michigan State and really showed its struggles against Indiana.

These teams aren’t the best rushing defenses in the country, either. Indiana allowed 250 yards on opening week, while the Spartans allowed 226 against Iowa today. It’s plain and simple. If Michigan can’t run the football well, they lose the game. What dictates whether the running game can work? The offensive line.

Michigan has plenty of weapons in the backfield with Hassan Haskins, Zach Charbonnet, the returning Chris Evans, and the freshman, Blake Corum. These players are good at what they do, and when they are asked to try and run through a wall of defenders because the offensive line doesn’t have any holes for them to run through, that is a lot to ask out of them.

Warinner needs to figure out what he can do with his guys. Injuries have certainly changed up the game for him, but if he can figure out what issues they are dealing with, the offense can do what it did against Minnesota two weeks ago. With the defense having issues, Michigan’s offense needs to put up points. The offense is the biggest issue overall for the team in 2020.

Sure, you can point at the defense and give them the blame, but if Michigan can put up points, drive after drive, and its defense can make one more stop, they win, easy as that. College football is moving away from its low scoring, defensive shutouts, and more towards the high-scoring action-packed games. Defenses don’t win you championships anymore in college; offenses do. If Michigan can figure out what to do with the offensive line and help the running game become relevant again, then this team has a chance to turn this around possibly.

Contact/Follow @WolverinesWire/ @BKnappBlogs

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Michigan football veterans confident in emerging youth

How Michigan football bounces back against Indiana and what some younger players could look like if they’re forced into action vs. Indiana.

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After sacking redshirt junior Tanner Morgan five times in their season-opening victory on Oct. 24, the Michigan defense failed to register one sack of Michigan State’s Rocky Lombardi — another redshirt junior — in the upset loss on Halloween.

Responsible for one of the sacks against Minnesota, redshirt senior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp still turned in a solid individual performance in the home-opener, registering five tackles, tied with redshirt sophomore VIPER Michael Barrett for the seventh-best mark on defensive coordinator Don Brown’s unit.

Meeting with the media remotely on Monday, Kemp offered his thoughts on the defensive line’s showing in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

“That was a good unit we were facing, and they did some good things schematically to slow us down,” Kemp said. “Watching that tape, you really got to be (critical) of your performance, because it didn’t end up producing an outcome at the end of the game that you wanted.

“So, the things that you did, weren’t as impactful as you wanted them to be. Now, as you watch that tape and go forward, you got to be prepared to see looks like that again, and, when you get in those situations where it’s a look that you’ve seen, you got to do something that you’ve been practicing differently to get to the quarterback and cause some disruption.”

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Kemp, along with bookends Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye, a junior and senior, respectively, all received at least third-team All-Big Ten recognition in 2019. Despite Michigan State holding this potent group in check, the Boulder, Colorado native was not caught off guard by the looks the Spartans presented.

“No, that’s something they had (done) in their previous game against Rutgers,” Kemp said. “Going into it, we were confident about what we were going to see and what we ended up seeing on Saturday.”

But what’s going on with the other side of the ball?

Given that Kemp goes up against the offensive line in practice, he has some insight on two young offensive linemen, redshirt freshman Trevor Keegan and freshman Zak Zinter, both 247Sports Composite four-star prospects in their classes.

“A big thing this year is just always trying to be ready,” Kemp said. “One thing we talked about is this year is definitely unlike any other year before where, at any moment, at any time, you got to be ready to play.

“Keegan, going into his second year here, has definitely developed into a player that is ready to go if his moment comes, if his time comes.

“Zinter, being at the young age he is, coming in as a freshman, kid’s just got better and better since he’s been here. He’s strong enough and he’s a very athletic interior guy, and I’m sure, if his number’s called, he’ll definitely be ready to step on the field and help us.”

Speaking to Kemp’s point of always being ready, redshirt freshman Karsen Barnhart was thrust into action when redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield was forced to leave the Michigan State game after being rolled up on in the fourth quarter.

Based on the praise from their elder teammate, it sounds like, if something were to happen to redshirt junior left guard Chuck Filiaga or right guard Andrew Stueber, another redshirt junior, Keegan and Zinter would be up to the task.

The Wolverines, who dropped ten spots to No. 23 in the latest AP Top 25, will look to return to the win column on Saturday when they battle the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers at Bloomington’s Memorial Stadium at 12 p.m. EST on FS1.

Owning a 59-9 edge in the all-time series, Michigan has won 24-straight over the Hoosiers, with the last loss coming in Bloomington on Oct. 24, 1987.

True freshman offensive lineman impressing his Michigan teammates

The first year offensive lineman could be poised for an early impact, despite that being a rare occurrence for his position.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When it comes to first-year players that are anticipated to make an instant impact, offensive linemen often get left out in the dust.

There’s generally a good reason for that. Linemen on offense tend to be the biggest and strongest players on the team, but they also have a level of precision they have to reach before they can contend with the faster, more explosive defensive linemen, who are putting every move at their disposal to get to the quarterback.

But what if one lineman could see playing time in year one for Michigan football? After all, Zak Zinter — the former four-start from the prestigious Massachusetts-based Buckingham Browne & Nichols School already has the idea size, despite being a true freshman.

Zinter reported to campus at 300-pounds in December, but is already up to 334, making him the third-biggest lineman behind Chuck Filiaga and Andrew Stueber. At a towering 6-foot-6, he already has optimal size to be a contributor on the offensive line, but much of it will come down to how much he’s been able to learn the offense as well as offensive line technique.

His O-line counterpart Andrew Stueber has been impressed with Zinter thus far, saying that while he has the physical attributes, his desire to learn has been nothing short of impressive.

“Zak is doing really good things,” Stueber said. “He’s been bouncing around (between) guard and tackle – we don’t know exactly where we’re gonna put him yet. But he’s doing really great things. He’s come in, he’s a big, strong kid. And he’s really quick to learn, too. I love teaching him things, because he’ll pick them up right away.”

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Stueber also said that the competition is still brewing among the offensive linemen, and that Zinter has been one of the players getting some run with the ones — along with seven others.

Though it’s still unlikely that Zinter will supplant a veteran to earn a starting role, that he’s in that competition is a feat unto itself.

Although he’s not one who will make personnel decisions — that’s obviously up to the coaches — Stueber is curious to see if he gets some early play.

“I can’t wait to see where he contributes,” Stueber said. “He’s been showing great things on and off film, in the weight room, with a great attitude and everything. I can’t wait to see how he contributes, whether that’s gonna be in the three or twos, if we’re gonna redshirt him this year. But he’s doing great things and see how he progresses.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there actually aren’t redshirt rules this year, as the 2020 season won’t count against NCAA players’ proverbial ticking clock.

With that in mind, don’t be surprised if Zinter does get a chance to showcase his ability, especially if Michigan has a game in hand.

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How Michigan’s early-enrollees have fared during changes due to coronavirus

How the Wolverines offensive coordinator sees Michigan’s offensive early-enrollees getting along despite the drastic changes due to COVID-19

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Something of a casualty this offseason has been those who have enrolled early.

With the novel coronavirus changing the way the world operates, the expectation was that those who had come to Ann Arbor early would have a jump on the process, getting all 15 spring practices as well as participating in the annual spring game.

However, now those players are just like anyone else, holed up due to the current ‘stay at home’ efforts. That, though, doesn’t mean there haven’t been benefits afforded to those who did arrive at Michigan a good 6-7 months early.

Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis appeared this weekend on the In the Trenches podcast with Jon Jansen, and explained what those who did forgo their final semester of high school to come to Ann Arbor have experienced, and why they still are somewhat ahead of the curve when it comes to the football program — as compared to those who won’t arrive until presumably June or July.

“I think the benefit for the early-enrollee guys is they were able to get with Coach Herbert and really get the culture and the way we do things down,” Gattis said. “They got a number of good morning workouts in before they were – obviously before we were (set) to start spring ball. They really understood, okay, how do we really want to do things. How do the upperclassmen do it? And I’ll tell you what: that’s a really impressive group of young guys. How well they work, how well they pay attention. How well they pay attention to the details. There’s some impressive guys in that group. That was the biggest thing offensively for us.”

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On offense, there’s but two players who came early — offensive tackle Zak Zinter and running back Blake Corum.

Both got a little time in already, with three practices as the team readied itself to play Alabama in the VRBO Citrus Bowl. However, particularly with Corum, there were strong anticipations about getting him ready to play in year one, despite an already loaded running backs room.

Still, Zach Charbonnet, who ended up starting in his first year last fall, was somewhat similarly in the same boat, as he recovered from an injury that prohibited him from taking part in spring practices. Thus, Corum could still find himself ready to go.

Part of why is the leadership that other former early-enrollees have exhibited. They’ve helped those along the way to help make sure they’re fully acclimated, despite the curveball that the pandemic has thrown the country as well as the football program.

That said, Gattis feels that with the different pace of things at the moment, it’s also allowed the two first-year players to understand the concepts of the college game a little bit better than had they gone though the alternative ‘normal.’

“We only had two early-enrollees,” Gattis said. “We had Zak and we had Blake. Both of those guys have done a really good job of keeping up to task. Our veteran players have also done a really good job of bringing those guys along. We make sure we check in on those guys. I think it helps with a number of mid-years we had last year. A guy like Cade (McNamara) has been really good with taking those mid-year guys in. Ben Mason has done a really good job of taking those mid-year guys in. We’ve had some guys that have been assigned to bring those guys along, making sure we’re able to get those guys adjusted. I think from the strength and the workout standpoint, they’ve done a really good job. But this was their first install. Now they’re going through their first football install truly with it being remote. So we just gotta make sure – I think the way we’re going about it in going about it a little bit slower with one a week has really helped those guys really understand.”

To some degree, the players have been quite innovative with keeping in check with their new workout regimens during what should have been spring ball.

For instance, Corum posted a video of one of his workouts, and it certainly highlights what kind of shape he’s in.

As of right now, the Big Ten extended all organized team activities to be on continued hiatus until June 1.

Michigan commits, signees make push for Donovan Edwards

With one major target off the board at RB in 2021, several prospective Wolverines took to Twitter to thy and lure a 4-star in-state tailback

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When Hopewell (VA) five-star RB TreVeyon Henderson committed to Ohio State without having ever visited Columbus, nearly all of Michigan’s hopes at tailback suddenly rest on an in-state talent in West Bloomfield (MI) four-star Donovan Edwards.

It seemed as if the Wolverines were trailing for the star player in Oakland County, with the Buckeyes, Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma all in full-pursuit. However, reports indicate that Michigan has made a big push, including one from The Wolverine’s EJ Holland, who published a story on Friday about the maize and blue pursuit of Edwards.

Many of those already committed or even signed to Michigan took that as an opportunity to let Edwards know just how much he’s wanted in Ann Arbor, including commits J.J. McCarthy and Giovanni El-Hadi as well as signees Zak Zinter, AJ Henning, Kalel Mullings and Braiden McGregor.

Check out their pitches to Edwards below:

 

 

 

Signed: Zak Zinter

Everything you need to know about new Wolverines signee Zak Zinter.

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Stars Overall Position State
247Sports 3 389 #18 OG #4
Rivals 4 148 #16 OT #3
ESPN 4 – #14 OG #2
247Sports Composite 4 273 #11 OG #3

Vitals

Hometown North Andover (MA) Buckingham Browne & Nichols School
Projected Position Offensive Line
Height 6-foot-6
Weight 300-pounds

Recruitment

Long looked at as a Michigan – Notre Dame battle, Zinter was a frequent visitor to both schools.

It felt like he was leaning towards the Fighting Irish, but Don Brown and Ed Warinner’s persistence paid off, as Zinter pledged to Michigan on May 16. However, he still did take an official to South Bend in June, but remained solid to the class.

Readiness Level

Definite redshirt in 2020. Could become a contributor or starter anywhere between years 2-4, depending on the matriculation of the depth ahead of him.

Early Enrollee?

Yes

Notes (via MGoBlue.com)

Prep
• Attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols School (2020) coached by Mike Willey
• Set to graduate Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in December and enroll at the University of Michigan in January 2020
• Team Captain as a senior in 2019
• Attended St. Joe’s Prep for the first two years of his high school career, where he made the Principal’s List each semester, before transferring to BB&N
• As a junior, led the team to an 8-1 record and title game appearances in the Independent School League (ISL) and New England championships
• Helped his team win the Kevin Driscoll Bowl to close out the 2018 season (NEPSAC Bowl Champions)

Key Statistics
• Three-year starter along the offensive line, with one year at St. Joe’s Prep and two at BB&N
• ISL Shot Put State Champion and NEPSAC New England State Shot Put Champion as a junior
• Holds the BB&N school record in the shot put
• Won the MIAA Division I shot put twice (freshman and sophomore years) and the discus state titles as sophomore

Honors and Rankings
• 247Sports Composite ranking of four stars, the 273rd player nationally, the 11th-best guard in the country and the No. 3 player in the state of Massachusetts
• Three-star prospect according to 247Sports, the No. 389 player nationally, the 18th-best guard and the No. 3 player in Massachusetts
• Ranked a four-star prospect by ESPN, the No. 14 player at his position and second-best in Massachusetts
• Rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals, the No. 149 player in the nation, No. 16 at guard and No. 3 in Massachusetts
• PrepStar Magazine Top 150 Dream Team member; rated as the top prospect in Massachusetts, the 17th-best offensive tackle in the country and the nation’s 123rd overall recruit
• Boston Herald and Boston Globe All-Scholastic athlete in football and track and field
• USA Today All-Massachusetts (2018) and Super 26 All-State Team (2019)
• Two-time Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association All-State (2018-19); only underclassman on 2018 team
• Two-time All-New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC), earning the honor as a junior and senior
• 2019 NEPSAC All-New England Lineman of the Year
• 2019 Buckingham Browne & Nichols High School MVP and Lineman of the Year as a senior
• Two-time All-ISL (2018-19) and two-time ISL Healey Lineman of the Year (2018-19)

Personal
• Zak Lyle Zinter was born April 17, 2001
• Son of Paul and Tiffany Zinter
• Family grew up in Port St. Lucie, Florida, until Zak was in middle school

Film

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