Zach Zwinak

Zachary Thomas "Zach" Zwinak is an American football running back who currently plays for the Penn State Nittany Lions. After playing sparingly in his first two seasons, he had a breakout year in 2012.

Early years
The son of B.J. Zwinak and Diane Thomas, Zwinak attended Linganore High School in Frederick, Maryland. He was named all-state after rushing for 1,447 yards as a junior. As a senior, he rushed for 2,109 yards on 164 carries and scored 25 touchdowns.

Recruiting
Zwinak was sought after by numerous FBS schools and was the number two ranked fullback by Rivals and number one ranked fullback by Scout.com. It was Penn State defensive line coach Larry Johnson who was the primary recruiter for Zwinak. Zwinak's other offers included Boston College, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Freshman and Sophomore seasons
Zwinak tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in 2010, his freshman season. He did not appear in any games. He saw the field in two games during his sophomore season. He rushed for a total of seven yards on a three carries.

Junior season
Coming in to his junior year, Zwinak was expected to compete to backup fullback Michael Zordich. After Bill Belton and Derek Day, the two running backs above Zwinak on the depth chart, were hurt early in the year, Zwinak had an opportunity to start at tailback against Temple on September 22. He rushed 18 times for 94 yards. Since then, Zwinak has held on to the starting tailback spot due to both his success, and the ineffectiveness of Belton. On September 29, Zwinak had his first 100+ yard rushing performance as well as his first two career touchdowns against Illinois. The following week against Northwestern, Zwinak again ran for over 100 yards putting up 121 with another touchdown. In Penn State's final game of the season on November 24, 2012, Zwinak had one of the best games of his season by totaling 36 rushes, 179 yards, a touchdown, and a two-point conversion. On November 27, 2012, it was announced that despite not playing for the first few games of the season, Zwinak earned honorable mention all-conference accolades from the media.