Joel Klatt recalls Michigan support of injured Zak Zinter: ‘Never heard a stadium that loud’

For all the unbridled joy Michigan’s 30-24 victory last Saturday against Ohio State brought the vast majority of the 110,615 packed inside Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the win was tinged with some degree of sadness after all-American offensive lineman Zak Zinter went down in the third quarter with what was later revealed to be a broken tibia and fibula.

It’s a moment Joel Klatt won’t soon forget.

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On his podcast this week, Klatt, a college football analyst for Fox who was calling the game alongside Gus Johnson in Ann Arbor, emotionally recounted his experience seeing Michigan players and the fans in attendance support Zinter and rally around him as he was being treated.

Klatt said it was the kind of scene that he has “never experienced before calling games.”

“I have my headset on during the timeout,” Klatt said. “It’s hard to hear the crowd unless the sound from the game is happening. Even though my headset is on, I hear the stadium start to come alive. They’re pumping up the air cast, the team is devastated and the Big House starts chanting — if I get emotional, I’m sorry — ‘Let’s go Zak, let’s go Zak.’

“It’s not just one section. It’s not just one area. It was the whole stadium and it was loud. It was so loud that I took my headset off to hear it. I was blown away. I’ve never heard a stadium that loud in a commercial break, ever. This was completely human element-driven — no music, no band, no PA announcer.”

After Zinter was injured, Klatt said the emotion and weight of the moment was immediately visible in the body language of Michigan’s players. Among them was offensive lineman Trevor Keegan, who Klatt said hit his helmet on the ground while crying. Soon enough, that sense of unease and shock bled into the crowd, which got so quiet Klatt said, “You can hear a pin drop.”

As Klatt recreated the scene, he paused at one point to gather himself emotionally:

“The Michigan fans start chanting for him,” Klatt said. “Now the players are galvanized. Now, all of a sudden, his team is like, ‘Alright, let’s go do this for 65, Zak Zinter.’”

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On the first play from scrimmage after Zinter was carted off, Wolverines running back Blake Corum scampered for a 22-yard touchdown to break a 17-17 tie with 1:55 remaining in the quarter and send the Big House into a frenzy. After Corum reached the end zone, he held up six fingers and then five to a nearby television camera in a tribute to Zinter’s No. 65 jersey.

For Klatt, it was a sharp emotional swing that defied description.

“It was incredible,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my career.”