Background
Zane Durant grew up in the Lake Nona area of Orlando, Florida, and attended Lake Nona High School, where he set school records for career sacks at 24.5 and single-season sacks at 15.5 as a senior, while also lettering in track and field and weightlifting, where he set the school shot put record and placed eighth in the state. His father, Marcus Durant, played center at Florida A&M from 1990 to 1995, and two of his three sisters competed in college athletics at FIU and UCF. A four-star prospect ranked No. 296 nationally, he committed to Penn State on July 4, 2021, citing the small-town feel with fewer distractions, and played in all 54 games. After a reserve freshman year in 2022, he started 11 games as a sophomore with 17 tackles, 5.5 TFL, and 2 sacks, then broke out as a junior in 2024 with 42 tackles, 11 TFL, and 3 sacks across all 16 games during Penn State's CFP semifinal run, ranking fourth among all FBS DTs in TFL. He returned for 2025 as a Preseason AP First-Team All-American, and the preseason award committees placed him on watch lists for the Bednarik, Nagurski, Lombardi, and Outland trophies. He finished with 25 tackles, 4.5 TFL, and 4 sacks in 12 games. Career totals: 89 tackles, 22 TFL, 10 sacks across 54 games. He majored in human development and family studies before declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Physical Attributes
Durant is an undersized, explosive athlete.His ability to get off the line is elite and gives him an advantage on nearly every snap. His arms are short, only in the 13th percentile of DT arm length, but his hands are in the 88th percentile. That's kind of weird, right? He has very good strength for someone his size, but can still get pushed around by much larger linemen.
Data and Tape Analysis
If you are unfamiliar with my DT radar charts, you can find more information here
Another pass rushing 3 technique that is very limited elsewhere! Some people may squint and see a potential 5 tech, but I will outline why I disagree.
Durant is maybe the most neutral run defender I have ever seen. 90% of the time he seems to have absolutely no effect on the play. It's as if you could place a giant cone where his blocker and he are standing, and that would have the same effect. He does not make many tackles in the run game as he finds it hard to leverage himself free of blockers, but does not get pushed around a ton either. That's the other 10%, he just gets absolutely mauled.
As a pass rusher, Durant is overly reliant on his speed and athleticism. There is almost no refinement to his pass-rushing move set outside of looking for and exploiting gaps. I do not think I remember seeing a swim, club, or bull rush of any kind on tape. Though because his speed is so elite, it still works! He shoots through gaps in a blink of an eye and closes quickly. His short arms get him in trouble when trying to finish, but the havoc he causes quickly leads to team sacks afterwards.
Grade and Outlook
If you have read enough of my stuff, you know by now I will always give the young athletic freak the benefit of the doubt. Durant gets that, but his unrefined and often ineffectual game that lacks versatility has him sliding down my board.
Grade: 4.6 (Late 3rd Rounder / Early 4th Rounder)
