Unquestionable Toughness At Heart Of Journey To NFL For Michigan’s Zak Zinter

Sitting on the sidelines with an injury goes contrary to everything that Zak Zinter believes in.

The hulking 6-foot-6, 309-pound Michigan offensive guard wants to be in the middle of the action, regardless of any pain he's endured from battling in the trenches. From what he can remember, he's always been that way.

"I want to be out there. I love being out there. I want to do whatever I can to help the team win," Zinter told NESN.com. "If I got to cast it up or play through a high ankle sprain, all that good stuff whatever it is, I'm going to do whatever the team needs, for sure."

Zinter added: "I don't know if it was just a screw loose in my head or just how I was raised or what. But it's there for sure."

That's what has made the lead-up to the NFL draft so difficult for Zinter, who is one of the top interior lineman prospects in his class. With Zinter preparing for the biggest job interview of his life after starting 42 games in his career with Michigan and putting together an All-American campaign as a senior, he's become somewhat of a bystander.

Zinter's collegiate career came to a crashing conclusion this past November in front of the 110,000 fans that packed Michigan Stadium to watch the Wolverines take on archrival Ohio State. Zinter got rolled up on late in the third quarter while in pass protection and his left leg couldn't withstand the impact, resulting in him breaking his tibia and fibula. The injury was so bad that the FOX broadcast decided not to show any replays of it.

And as Zinter laid on the turf in agony before being carted off, a million thoughts crossed his mind.

"Just all the emotions," Zinter said. "Didn't know what was happening. It's senior night in the Big House and last game there. Anything and everything you could imagine was going through my head at that time."

Zinter said he knew almost immediately he had broken his leg and that his season was over. That meant not playing in the Big Ten Championship Game. No College Football Playoff or national title game appearance, either.

It also severely altered his preparation for the NFL draft. Rehabbing and working his way back from what he called the most adverse situation of his football career filled his schedule. He set his sights on getting back for the NFL Scouting Combine in early March, which would give him a chance to impress evaluators and improve his draft stock. But Zinter wasn't physically ready by that point.

Zinter did get to meet with teams and discuss the intricacies of offensive line play. But any on-field work, where the money is made in the NFL, had to wait.

"It's bittersweet," Zinter said. "Once I knew it happened, I obviously knew I wasn't going to be able to play the rest of the season. I wasn't necessarily pushing to get back for that. But I was hoping to be able to run around and do stuff at the combine, but that came up too quick. And then pro day, decided not to do anything there. So, I've been saying bittersweet, for sure."

Zinter said his broken leg is the only injury he's ever missed time for in his career. He has a track record of playing through other broken bones.

Zinter, who moved from Port St. Lucie, Fla., to North Andover, Mass., as an eighth grader, gained that painful experience at the end of his junior season of high school playing for Buckingham, Browne and Nichols.

But getting an opportunity to play for a championship motivated Zinter to push through anything in his way.

"He broke his hand in the last game of the regular season," BB&N head coach Mike Willey told NESN.com. "I don't know what's going to happen. He has all these things going for him and he was the guy that said to me, this was even before X-rays were done and all those things, he goes, 'There's no way I'm not playing in the championship game, so you don't have to worry about that Coach Willey.' He played the whole thing with a cast on his hand. Just a total warrior."

Willey would have understood if Zinter decided to sit out that contest. He really had every reason to, especially with an incredibly bright future ahead as a top-tier college football recruit.

But for Zinter, who was voted as a captain by his Michigan teammates this past season, his commitment level is unmatched.

"In the grand scheme of things, he was playing in bowl games and in the Big House in front of 110,000 people. That's where he was going," Willey said. "Why he got there, part of it, is because of that approach. He really cares about his teammates, he really cares about his program, he really cares about the people that have worked hard for him and he'll work just as hard for everyone else."

Zinter, who was a key part in Michigan's formidable offensive line that paved the way up front to a national title, is doing everything now to make sure he's ready to sacrifice for whatever NFL team drafts him at the end of this month. He is viewed by draft pundits as a Day 2 pick. NFL Media's Chad Reuter had him going in the second round at No. 61 overall to the Detroit Lions in his latest mock draft.

Of course, one of the biggest questions Zinter gets when meeting with NFL teams is how is his leg feeling. But he revealed it doesn't dominate the conversation.

"The biggest thing with them is they just want to know if I'll be ready to go for the season and camp and all that good stuff," Zinter said. "The way I've been healing, the X-rays and talking to them and their doctors, it's a question they have, but something that's not a complete game-changer. Obviously, it would be easier going if I didn't break my leg, but I did. It's not the end of the world. It's not a huge topic. They just want to know when I'll be ready to play."

He has an answer for them, too, and a very good one at that.

Zinter said his leg is "pretty much 100%," and that his tibia is healed while his fibula is 90 to 95% back to complete strength. He added that he's been cleared for everything, as well. And with Zinter close to fully healthy, he is targeting rookie minicamp for when he'll be back on the field.

It's been a grueling process to get to this point, and it's not at all what Zinter imagined as he's just weeks away from achieving a lifelong dream.

But in a way, he's better off for having dealt with this significant injury and the aftermath of it.

"It truly made me realize how much I do love the game," Zinter said, "and makes me fight and want to work harder just so I can be back out there 100% and be better than I was before, for sure."