It was one of those oddball inquires typically associated with Super Bowl media day. But when at the NFL combine last week Zane Durant was presented with a question regarding what emoji he would says best describes his game, the Penn State product was quick with an answer.
“I probably use the fast emoji, (the) lightning bolt,” Durant said.
Why?
“Because I’m twitchy and explosive.”
Twitchy and explosive aren’t often words used to describe defensive tackles. But then again, Durant is not your typical defensive tackle. He enrolled at Penn State in 2022 as a defensive end weighing not much more than 250 pounds.
By the time he was a co-captain who started each of Penn State’s 12 regular-season games as a senior, Durant was a 297-pound defensive tackle. After measuring in at 6 feet 1, 290 at the combine last week, Durant he intends to play at 294 pounds in the NFL.
How many 290-plus pound defensive tackles can run the 40-yard dash in 4.75 seconds? Turns out, none of the 14 others from his position who ran at the combine can. Durant also had the best 10-yard sprint split (1.66 seconds) of any defensive tackle at the combine, and he also ranked among the top five at his position in the vertical jump (33.5 inches, tied for third-best) and broad jump (9 feet, 4 inches; tied for fifth-best).
The numbers were good enough that the NFL named Durant to its 2026 “All-Combine team.”
Your 2026 All-Combine Team ???? pic.twitter.com/PdDu6PAVvU
— NFL (@NFL) March 3, 2026
“My ‘get-off’ is the first thing (team evaluators) talk about,” Durant said about his game. “My motor, they said it could be better, but they said everything that I play with, the fight that I play with, how fun I play and the intensity that I play with is something they’re excited about.”
A three-year starter after coming to Penn State as a four-star incoming prospect from Lake Nona, Fla., Durant over the past three seasons alone accumulated nine sacks, 21 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, three passes defensed and even an interception as an interior defensive tackle.
Perhaps that aspect of Durant’s game was aided by that he is still more of a defensive end at heart. It was only after he added almost 50 pounds that Durant could excel at defensive tackle.
That Durant appears more chiseled than “big” probably won’t come as a surprise when it’s known what his course of study was at Penn State and what his career aspirations are.
“I wanted to be a dietician,” Durant said at the combine, “because I eat a lot.
“I come from the south so my Auntie and my grandma used to cook for me a lot. I wanted to learn what goes into it and also me being a high-caliber athlete I had to watch what I eat so I just wanted to get a little bit of information by myself before I ask other people to help me out with that.”
With Durant’s known area of expertise, were his Nittany Lions teammates coming to him for advice at the training table?
“No,” he said.
“They’re not going to like what they hear from me.”
Durant, conversely, has to like what some of his teammates are saying about him.
“Zane’s one of the best D-tackles in the country,” safety Zakee Wheatley said at the combine, “and it was a blessing to play with him.”
Durant, though, is not ranked among the very top of the list of the draft’s defensive tackle prospects. ESPN’s Mel Kiper rates him 14th at the position; Pro Football Focus 18th. Durant probably won’t be selected until Day 3 of the draft next month in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers are in need of d-tackle depth and met with Durant at the Senior Bowl.
With a new coaching staff, the fit and types of defensive linemen the organization will target is something of a mystery. Rest assured, though, that athleticism plays in any scheme.
“I’m a fast cat,” Durant said. “Explosive, twitchy and I’m very powerful. So I just want to show (NFL personnel) who I am.”
