Coach: 2020 OL Zak Zinter "Great Player, Even Better Kid"

Zak Zinter‍ has been steadily piling up the scholarship offers for months now and on Thursday night, the 2020 Massachusetts offensive lineman added another one, Notre Dame.

“Great player, even better kid,” Buckingham, Browne & Nichols head coach Mike Willey says of the 6-foot-6, 315-pound junior.

“He’s big, he’s a monster. He’s really strong. He’s a great weight-room person, tough, athletic, offensive lineman. But also just a great character kid, great leader on our team. Just an all-around really good kid.”

Being a leader at an elite prep school is an impressive accomplishment.

“We’re lucky we have a great student body here,” says Willey. “We have a lot of good kids. Zak has been a captain of our team, he’s been a guy people respect. He’s just a really, really good kid.”

Zinter transferred to BB&N from St. John’s Prep, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly’s alma mater, before his junior season.

“We knew he had some serious athletic ability and more importantly, when we talk to people about coming to our school, a lot of it is about our culture and the subset of our football culture, needing to fit into what we want to do,” Willey explains.

“He was a perfect fit for what we want culturally.”

Zinter’s offer sheet also includes schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Northwestern, Nebraska, Miami, Duke, Tennessee, Boston College, Dartmouth and Yale among several others.

“I think Zak is wide open,” his coach says. “Lots of people ask me about his Top 10, Top 5. He doesn’t really have one. He’s taking it all in now. I’ve told him, ‘If any school offers you a free education that’s worth half a million dollars, that’s an unbelievable deal.’

“All of the things are really important and he’s got a very level head about taking it all in right now. He’ll work on the narrowing down process a little bit later. Right now, he’s just focused on schoolwork and the weight room and that sort of thing.”

Notre Dame could end up being a fit based on his current school.

“Notre Dame is obviously a high academic institution that takes athletics real seriously,” Willey says. “I think BB&N does the same idea. It’s a great education, but we also take the athletics seriously. I think there are lots of similarities.”