Profiles: Brett Zanotto is going to really help Maryland football, eventually

Maryland football starts its season in 53 days. Until then, we’re profiling the entire roster.

Brett Zanotto, linebacker

Height: 5’10
Weight: 220 pounds
Year: Sophomore
High school: Franklin Regional (Pa.)
Jersey number: 38

How Zanotto got to College Park

From Franklin Regional outside of Pittsburgh, Zanotto was a well-regarded recruit in the class of 2015, ranked as the No. 44 inside linebacker in the country on the 247Sports Composite. He committed to the Terrapins in the summer before his senior year of high school, choosing them over Syracuse, Temple and a smattering of MAC schools. His primary recruiter at Maryland was former offfensive line coach Greg Studrawa, who’s since followed Randy Edsall out the door.

Zanotto played in 10 games in his first year at Maryland, all in reserve. His 23 tackles led all Maryland freshmen, as he played in sub packages.

A career highlight so far

Zanotto notched five tackles in a loss to Indiana last year.

2016 prospectus

It looks like it’s going to be sort of difficult to find playing time in the Maryland linebacking corps this season. Jermaine Carter Jr. will be on the field just about all the time when he’s healthy, and DJ Durkin’s shown an affinity for nickel packages that would limit Maryland to two linebackers.

This isn’t to say Zanotto won’t be involved. It’s just to say snaps will be hard to come by, and he’ll need to perform really well to get a chance to recognize his potential. That could happen this year, or it could not. But it’s probably going to happen sometime.

What a dream season would look like

Zanotto plays a lot, either as a nickel backer or to whichever extent Durkin chooses to deploy more than two linebackers in general.

The next player in this series ...

hasn’t played in three seasons on the roster, but Maryland might need him now.

Standings

reborn579-6
Testudbro-5
PeachesTerp-5
Scaletta-4
apgibson24-4
jayman88-3
Murderlandboy-3
terpcommenter-2
ImFromMarylandAndNobodyCanBeatMe-2
jgoldy17-2
amaymon27-2
ezra2141-1
Mr. Papageorgeo-1
RedTurtle-1
Carolina-1
PMatt-1
EricPat-1