WATCH: Zak Zinter, Drake Nugent, Karsen Barnhart speak at NFL Combine
The Michigan Wolverines had three offensive linemen speak at the 2024 NFL Combine on Saturday in Zak Zinter, Drake Nugent and Karsen Barnhart. Trevor Keegan, LaDarius Henderson and Trente Jones were also set to speak, but were unavailable to media after delays during medical testing.
Zinter addressed his status heading into the draft, stating that he is still a month and a half away from being cleared for full football activities. Even after his broken leg, he remained with Michigan as a captain and helped guide them to a 15-0 season and national title.
“I still wanted to be a part of the team, be with the team, so I was still in the meetings, still watching film,” Zinter explained. “Even though I wasn’t on the field, I still wanted to impact the team in a way, so whether that was watching film or watching them when they were out there. Karsen [Barnhart] wet in to right guard — he had played there before — and just talking with him. He’d come off the field and say, ‘Hey, what’d you see there?’ Just little things like that. I almost turned into some sort of GA type of role, trying to help the team win in any way I could.”
You can watch the full media sessions using the embedded video players or on our YouTube channel.
Center Drake Nugent
What he said:
“It’s nice to be able to walk around and even just in the o-line groups, you have six of us here. There’s always a familiar face around and we even hang out with each other at nighttime before we go to bed. But I guess it’s nice to be able to lean on those guys in a high-stress situation and just like kind of talk to them through things and because everyone’s going through the same stuff.
“I think having them here is really beneficial for all of us. But just for Michigan itself, no program develops people and prepares them for the NFL like Michigan does. And I wholeheartedly believe that as well after being there for one year.”
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Guard/tackle Karsen Barnhart
What he said:
“I just think that the way we’ve been prepared our whole time at Michigan, and just playing the amount of snaps that we all played, and knowing the playbook like the back of our hand, I feel like I could teach it right now to everybody. I think that’s what the advantage that we have is all the snaps we played and the years that we’ve been at Michigan as well.
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