New England 3-star ATH Preston Zinter commits to Notre Dame

Lawrence (Mass.) Central Catholic three-star athlete Preston Zinter has become the latest member of the New England-to-Notre Dame pipeline.

Zinter announced his commitment to the Fighting Irish on Friday, becoming the ninth member of Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class.

“It really came down to: Why not Notre Dame?” Zinter told Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer. “It has everything I wanted. They’re one of the top football programs every year, and it’s one of the best colleges academically. Notre Dame has a ton of tradition, and I love the new coaching staff and how much I relate to him. Coach (Marcus) Freeman is building something special there. I want to be a part of that. The brotherhood and tradition there is unmatched.”

The other eight verbals are rated as four-star prospects in the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. All nine Fighting Irish recruits come from different states.

Zinter is the No. 433 overall recruit in the 2023 On3 Consensus.

He is the fourth-highest rated recruit playing in the state of Massachusetts after Brockton (Mass.) Thayer Academy four-star offensive tackle Samson Okunlola, West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial four-star defensive tackle Boubacar Traore and Millbrook (N.Y.) Milton Academy four-star tight end Andrew Rappleyea.

He visited South Bend, Ind., for the fourth time at the end of January. He previously said it was a great trip.

“It was an awesome visit,” Zinter told BlueandGold.com. “The highlight for me was really just having the opportunity to spend more time with the coaches, recruits and the guys already committed like Drayk Bowen and Brenan Vernon.”

Zinter currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $10,100. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.