Zak Zinter's 'Impressive' Ascent To Freshman Starter On Michigan's O-Line

Zak Zinter enrolled to Michigan in January ahead of his freshman football season with the Wolverines. A high academic student and an impressive physical specimen at 6-foot-6, 334 pounds, Zinter has acclimated to college smoothly, and five weeks into the season, he has 205 snaps and three starts at right guard already under his belt — injuries to redshirt sophomore tackles Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield thrusted Zinter into a starting role.

"Academics have always been important to me, getting my degree has always been really important to me, and Michigan has great football, great academics," Zinter said. "Being able to get here, early enroll, get in the weight room, start on the academics, it really helped me excel and get a jump start on the season.

"Coming in, I just had the mindset that I’m going to compete, compete, compete and see where things fall out. I’ve just been competing ever since I got here, and everything has fallen in to place perfectly — we had a couple injuries and I had the opportunity to step in."

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His preparedness didn't come without help from the rest of the Michigan offensive line group, which has instilled confidence in him that he could get the job done.

It’s the entire offensive line, honestly," Zinter said when asked who's taken him under their wing. "All the older guys.

"It’s a great group of guys, everyone has each other’s back. When they knew I was going to get the start that week [against Indiana], everyone kind of just came together and gave me the confidence that I was going to do good."

Zinter is receiving rave reviews for his play as a true freshman, with it being rare a first-year college player has a role as big as Zinter's.

"He's made a few mistakes, but overall, playing this level as a true freshman, he's been really good," head coach Jim Harbaugh said. "He’s been good on the point-of-contact blocks, pulls. He’s showing really good athleticism in pass protection.

"Everything, just continuing to improve on a daily, weekly basis. That’s what I’ve seen. It’s been impressive."

It's all the more impressive considering spring practice was canceled and he had to go home due to the global coronavirus pandemic after just two months on campus as an early enrollee.

"I think the more experience I get — I’m learning on every single play, which you need," Zinter added. "The more experience, the better, which I think is awesome."

Not only is he improving, but so is the depleted — and young — offensive line as a whole. After rushing for just 60 yards the previous two weeks combined and only 17 in the first half against Rutgers, the Wolverines offense exploded for 131 rushing yards in the second half of a comeback win over the Scarlet Knights.

"We came out in the first half fired up and ready to go," Zinter explained. "Some of the things didn’t go our way so much.

"In the second half, we talked amongst ourselves as an o-line and we kinda came together and said, let’s put this game on our backs, let’s start moving the ball up front. We started letting them respect the run game some more and then got the pass game going as well."

The group is looking to keep the improvement going with three games left in the regular season, riding the momentum that a win — after losing three straight coming in — gives them.

"To get a win is awesome. It’s everything," Zinter said. "Once you get that win, it gives you a boost of confidence — and a hard-fought win, too, where everyone left everything they had on the field to get that win. It boosts you even that much more, just knowing, alright, we got this, let’s keep going, we can get these wins."

• Redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara entered the Rutgers game down 17-0 and led the Wolverines to a comeback win. Although he may have surprised onlookers, Zinter insisted they knew McNamara had the performance in him.

"Cade’s a great player," Zinter said. "When he’s in practice, he makes the same throws, he’s a confident player, really good. So no, he didn’t really surprise me at all. I had all the confidence in the world in him when he came into the game.

When he got in there, we protected him, we gave him some time in the pocket and he made some good decisions and made some nice plays."

• After rotating four backs almost equally the first four games, the Wolverines went with redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins as the workhorse back, giving him 22 carries after he received just one the week prior. From Zinter's perspective as an offensive lineman, he said it doesn't make much difference who has the ball — his job remains the same.

"We’re really fortunate to have the great running back room that we do," Zinter said. "From an o-line standpoint, we just kinda keep it simple, get our job done. We know the backs are going to get their jobs done.

"Depending on who’s in the game, it’s not really up to us, but we keep the same mindset — let’s get our jobs done. And we know the running backs, whoever is in there, they’re all great and are going to get their jobs done as well."

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