Notre Dame’s 2023 class jumped into the #1 spot in the 247 Composite on Friday when four-star linebacker Preston Zinter announced his commitment to the Irish. Avid Irish recruiting fans may recognize the 6’3″, 221-pound Bay Staters’ surname; his older brother Zak is a former Irish target at offensive guard and incumbent starter for Michigan. Interestingly, despite the strong connection to the Skunkbears, Notre Dame made a big early move for Preston and never really looked back. We’ll get into this more later, but Zinter is a very interesting prospect in that, like 2021 signee Kahanu Kia and 2022 signee Josh Burnham, he could project to either outside linebacker or weakside defensive end in college. Wherever he lands, given the timing of his commitment and who else is still on the board in this cycle it’s quite clear that the Notre Dame staff really, really likes him.

One other thing of note… He tagged James Laurianaitis, who Freeman brought in as an analyst. Whether Freeman brought in his former a teammate – a three time consensus All-American and longtime pro – with an eye on a future on-field role or just to give him a taste of the coaching world remains to be seen, but recruits mentioning Laurianaitis is interesting.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 4 star (.8968 rating), #311 overall, #29 ATH, #4 in MA

247Sports — 3 star (88 rating), NR overall, #40 LB, #6 in MA

Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #214 overall, #11 OLB, #3 in MA

ESPN — 4 star, no ranking yet, listed as TE

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame, Zinter holds offers from Arizona, Auburn, Georgia, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others.

Obviously we don’t know where he sits on everyone’s boards, but that’s a pretty damn good offer list. I can’t imagine Auburn, Georgia, and LSU (who offered him nine months ago, if you’re wondering about a Brian Kelly connection) venture into Massachusetts too often.

Highlights

I don’t care what the level of competition is, if you tell me I can have a linebacker who takes a tunnel screen to the house from 65 yards out, I’ll be impressed. Wow. Great choice for the first play on the splash reel, kid… As nice as that play was, another thing that’s unmistakable right away is Zinter’s frame. He’s not super tall but he just looks like a big dude with long arms, so you can see why the staff might project him as a plus pass rusher down the road. He also hits hard when he gets his chance on either side of the ball. On the second play I could tell what was about to happen and I was half-hoping the quarterback would just get down, but no, his soul was momentarily separated from his body. Zinter also loves to finish as a blocker and delivers the blow as a ball carrier. One would imagine he subscribes to the Billy Schrauth Philosophy of Good Football: “It ain’t about that for me. It’s about hitting guys.”

His technique needs a little polish, which isn’t surprising to see on junior film for a kid who’s a heavy two-way player. His arsenal of pass rush moves seems to consist of “run straight at this guy” and “run around this guy,” but that’s something he’ll no doubt expand with more in-depth coaching. What stands out as a rusher is the power and speed that lets him do that right now. As a space linebacker he shows good awareness and, again, violence when he gets to the ball. Lots to like here.

Impact

Notre Dame projects to be loaded at linebacker for a while given the 2021-22 signees, five-star ’23 commit Drayk Bowen, and Kia’s potential return from his LDS mission. I don’t know how much opportunity there will be for Zinter to make an early impact, but that’s probably okay as it will give him time to focus on one position and develop physically. I think he has the physical tools to be a contributor fairly early and could be a starter somewhere in the front seven as an upperclassman. It’ll be fun to see how the coaching staff wants to apply his athletic ability.

Welcome to the Irish family, Preston!