BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns selected two players in the NFL draft forever connected by a horrific injury.

In Friday’s third round, the team picked Michigan guard Zak Zinter, who broke his left leg against Ohio State on Nov. 25 when Buckeyes defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr., taken by the Browns in the second round, was accidentally thrown into him.

Zinter, an AP first-team All-American, fractured his tibia and fibula on a play that hushed a crowd of more than 100,000 fans inside Michigan Stadium.

Former rivals, Zinter and Hall are now teammates — already linked by a fateful play.

“Kind of a full-circle moment,” Zinter said on a conference call.

The 6-foot-6, 309-pound Zinter was blocking another Ohio State lineman when Hall was pushed down onto the back of Zinter’s leg. As he lay on the field in pain, Michigan’s team left its sideline to support him and the crowd broke into chants of “Let’s Go Zak!” before Zinter was carted off.

The moment inspired the Wolverines, who scored on the next play, beat Ohio State for the third year in a row and went on to win the school’s first outright national championship since 1948.

Zinter said he has no hard feelings toward Hall. They’ve only talked once while making a team visit together.

“He is a great dude and it’s football stuff that happens when we’re playing in the trenches,” Zinter said. “But I’m fired up and I think everything happens for a reason. Now we’re going to be teammates, so I’m fired up to get there and get to work with him at practice.”

Zinter said his leg has healed nicely, and he feels fortunate he can pursue his dream of playing.

“I’ve been saying all along that this is the best worst-case scenario,” he said. “I mean, it’s just bone. Bone heals easy, way better than ligaments in the knee or the ankle.”

The Browns aren’t worried about Zinter having any lingering effects from the injury.

“We didn’t do a private (workout) or anything like that, but we felt really good about the medical,” general manager Andrew Berry said. “They did send video of him moving around on his own in private workouts, but he’ll be ready to go this spring and there’s really no concern about the leg.”

While it was thrilling to see his teammates finish off an unbeaten season, Zinter said it was difficult not being on the field.

“I decided to come back for my senior year last year to come back with the guys and compete and win a national championship and to go down in my senior night, last game in the Big House against Ohio State, all that kind of stuff,” he said. “It’s definitely bittersweet, but the boys rallied around me and we came out on top.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio — If Ohio State football’s Mike Hall Jr. had nicknamed himself “Baby Aaron Donald,” it could have been dismissed as the bravado of a confident young man.

That moniker, though, came from the teammates attempting to block him or avoid his grasp. The Browns, who have brought in a handful of OSU defensive players in the past few years, are now banking on that upside to invigorate their defensive front by selecting him in the second round, 54th overall, Friday in the NFL Draft.

Hall’s counting numbers — at least the full-season performances — do not jump off the page. Injuries each of the past two seasons did not keep him off the field for extended stretches but did slow him down. However, some of the single-game stat lines explain why the Browns showed such confidence in selecting Hall when they did.

The best example was the 2.5-sack night at Michigan State in 2022, when Hall played only eight snaps. At his best, his ability to create interior pressure blew up backfields and wrecked games. At the start of that same season, his interior presence set a tone in a victory over Notre Dame when the Buckeye offense had not yet clicked in.

Hall said at the NFL Scouting Combine that he was up to 293 pounds. Ohio State listed him around 280 last season. The truth likely lies somewhere in between, and for that reason, Hall always projected as a 3 technique tackle in a 4-3 system. It’s the role in which he most thrived for the Buckeyes.

Hall demanded a lot of double teams at OSU, which opened the door for big seasons from teammates such as Tyleik Williams. He is a lot to handle in a small space and he regularly flattened the pocket.

Those attributes showed up against other elite competition at the Senior Bowl, where the offensive linemen voted him the best defensive lineman in the camp.

Hall joins nose Tommy Togiai and safety Ronnie Hickman as recent Buckeyes in Cleveland. He has the highest ceiling, though, thanks to that ability to create the interior push teams covet so much.

It’s been a tumultuous week for Ohio State University and colleges around the nation as they grapple with a wave of student protests over schools’ investments in Israel.

Demonstrators across the nation are protesting the civilian toll in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died since the Israeli invasion that followed a Hamas-led attack that killed almost 1,200 people in Israel. Students oppose U.S. military aid to Israel and want their schools to stop investing endowment money in companies with Israeli links, USA Today reported.

Here’s what we know about student protests happening in Columbus.

36 arrested at anti-Israel protest Thursday night

Thirty-six people were arrested starting at 10:16 p.m. Thursday night as police surrounded the hundreds-strong protest on the Ohio Union in an effort to break it up. The protest started at 5 p.m. and went for nearly six hours before protestors began to dissipate.

No injuries were reported from the protests or arrests.

Three arrested, including student and faculty member, at anti-Israel protest Thursday afternoon

Earlier in the day Thursday, three people were arrested at a smaller pro-Palestine protest. One of those arrested was an Ohio State staff member, according to OSU spokesperson Ben Johnson.

Ohio State says it legally can’t divest from Israel

After Thursday’s protests, an OSU spokesperson said state law prevents the university from divesting from Israel. Here’s a rundown on the law and the history of divestment in Ohio.

What do OSU’s ‘space rules’ say about protesting?

Ohio State’s policies on the use of its public spaces prohibit overnight events, restrict noise at certain times, and require permission for demonstrations and setting up tents. It’s these policies that Thursday’s protesters are alleged to have violated.

Are university protests going to continue?

As Thursday night’s protest was broken up, protestors shouted at police that they would be back Friday. As of Friday afternoon, protesters had not returned to the Ohio Union, the site of Thursday’s protests.

NHart@dispatch.com

@PartofMyHart