Preston Zinter Talks Notre Dame In-Home
Those following Marcus Freeman’s travels over the past couple weeks closely have noticed the similarities between the pictures coming out of the in-home visits with Notre Dame commits.
But there was one gigantic difference in the picture from 2023 Irish linebacker Preston Zinter’s visit.
The tree.
“It's huge,” Zinter laughed. “Surprisingly, this isn't the biggest one we've had. We had one two years ago that was just about a foot taller and a little bit wider.
“But it's huge.”
While the tree may have been the discussion on message boards and social media, the conversations between Zinter, Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden were much more substantive.
“It was awesome,” the Massachusetts linebacker said of the visit. “It was just great to see them. I haven't seen them since the Clemson game, so it was just really good to get back to talking with them and having them at my house.
“It was good to sit down with them for dinner and all that and not just necessarily talk about football, but just talk about me coming in there soon and just life in general.”
Freeman and Golden counseled Zinter to begin focusing on what’s in front of him.
“Now that my season is done, we're just preparing for these next steps,” said Zinter. “We have about 15 guys coming in early, so now it's just getting prepared for that and when we get there, it's just time to go to work.”
Zinter believes enrolling early will help him get accustomed to college life quicker.
“Learning not just the football part, but also getting my feet underneath me for the academic part as well,” he said. “Get with the strength coaches and all that kind of stuff, get my body right and then to start to learn the playbook. The sooner I can learn the playbook, the faster I'm going to be able to get on the field and help contribute to the team.”
This wasn’t Zinter’s first in-home visit with a major college coach as his older brother Zak went through the same process a couple years back before heading to Michigan.
“I don't think really anyone can get like used to this kind of stuff,” Zinter said. “It's definitely amazing and definitely surreal and all that kind of stuff. I've been through it with Zak, but this time it was for me and it was even more special.”
Zinter said it’s been “awesome” to watch his brother and his team head to the College Football Playoff in back-to-back seasons. He’ll be in Arizona on New Year’s Eve to see the Wolverines play TCU in one semifinal.
“To see my brother chase his dreams down and all that kind of stuff and being able to watch him do that and being able to go to some of those games has been really awesome,” he said.
“It just shows me what I'm capable of doing and what me and the people at Notre Dame will be doing down the road. I'm super excited for him and it also just shows me how much we can achieve.”
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