Mike Hall Jr., Zak Zinter Join Browns Forever Bound From Their Days As College Rivals

In a matter of months, the Browns top two picks in 2024 went from fierce rivals to part of each other's football family.

Browns draftees Michael Hall Jr. and Zak Zinter are introduced to Cleveland fans and media for the first time. / Spencer Germn

Zak Zinter's face said it all. There was no hiding the raw emotions of being carted out of the Big House during "The Game," back on Thanksgiving weekend, his broken leg sealed up in an air cast.

For a moment at least, Zinter was able to take in a chorus of "let's go Zak" swelling across College Football's largest stadium. He held up a fist, the universal symbol of appreciation by player's who leave the field on a cart. In another, negative thoughts crept in.

Nov 25, 2023; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines offensive lineman Zak Zinter (65) is / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

"It definitely crossed my mind," said Zinter, admitting at his Browns introductory press conference that he wasn't sure what the ailment meant for his career."Going into that game and the year I’d had, and then that happening, I didn’t know how bad or how good it was, but, I mean, it’s definitely something that crossed my mind for sure."

Five months later, Zinter would be sitting behind a microphone in Berea, Ohio a third-round draft pick. As fate would have it, the player who inadvertently fell into his leg on that faithful Saturday in November – Ohio State defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. – was seated right next to him. Hall had been selected by the Browns one round prior. There they sat, suddenly teammates.

"I guess we were enemies in college, but now we’re brothers," said Zinter. "He’s a great dude, and it’s football. Stuff happens when we’re playing in the trenches, but I’m fired up and I think everything happens for a reason. Kind of a full-circle moment for that to happen and now we’re going to be teammates."

As Zinter noted, the play was a total cosmic fluke. That didn't stop Hall Jr. from check in on Zinter throughout his recovery. He also sympathized with the 23-year-old, who could only watch from the sideline has Michigan made a championship run without him.

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"I know he wanted to play in the National Championship game," Hall said. "Everybody would want to do that. It was just a tragic event that happened.”

Tragic as it was, Michigan's story ended with the happiest of endings: with the Wolverines hoisting the National Championship trophy. Zinter was one of the motivating forces behind the team's run to a title. At the college level, Michigan and Ohio State are often times two trains on a collision course. Each program stands in the other's way of the grand prize, which felt especially true this past season.

“We were just talking about that, and were just saying ... that was the National Championship game," Hall said. "So they won a national championship, so it was no coincidence. But, I mean, just seeing that and it’s obviously the biggest rivalry in all of sport."

While Hall and Zinter used to stand in each other's way en route to the ultimate goal, with the Browns they both want the same thing: to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Cleveland, which just so happens to be Hall's hometown.

"The up north and Ohio State rivalry is insane," said Hall. "From day one, whenever you attend these prestigious colleges, that’s the main goal. Being my rival, my first my three years throughout my career, then finally being teammates ... I’m going to be seeing him day in and day out, but we’re brothers now and it’s all about that.

Nov 25, 2023; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. (51) / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA

"You got to put the past aside and just, we got to go out there and go win one."

Strange as their connection may be, Zinter and Hall want the same thing now.

"[Our connection] started off how it is, but, I mean let’s go win a Super Bowl," Zinter asserted. "Why not?"

The Cleveland Browns brotherhood knows no bounds. Not even from the biggest rivalry in College Football.

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