Zack Baun (born December 30, 1996) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and was selected 74th overall by the Saints in the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

Early life and high school

Baun grew up in

West Bend, Wisconsin West Bend is the county seat of Washington County, Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,752. History Early history and settlement Northeastern Washington County's earliest known inhabitants were pre-Columbian Mound Builder ...

and initially attended West Bend East High School. His family moved to

Brown Deer, Wisconsin Brown Deer is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. As a suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 12,507 at the 2020 census. History The Brown Deer area was organized as part of ...

after his sophomore year and he transferred to

Brown Deer High School Brown Deer Middle/High School is a high school on North 60th Street, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, USA. It serves approximately 800 students in grades 7 through 12. Sports The school's sports teams are known as "The Falcons". The school is part of the ...

, where he played basketball and football and ran track. Baun moved from playing wide receiver at West Bend to quarterback and linebacker at Brown Deer. As a senior, Baun was named the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) State Offensive Player of the Year and was also named Dave Krieg State Quarterback of the Year after passing for 1,936 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushing for 1,837 yards and a state-leading 39 touchdowns. Baun committed to play college football at

with the intention of gray shirting his freshman year. In basketball, Baun was a starter for Brown Deer's 2013 WIAA Division II State Championship team and he placed in the Division II state track championship in both the 100 meter and 200 meter dashes.

College career

Baun

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his true freshman season after breaking his left foot going into the season. He appeared in 12 games as a redshirt freshman, making 15 tackles (3.5 for loss) with a forced fumble. Baun missed the entirety of his redshirt sophomore season after re-injuring his left foot during spring practices. Baun was named a starter at outside linebacker for the Badgers going into his redshirt junior season and finished the season as the team's third-leading tackler with 63 stops (7.5 for a loss) with 2.5 sacks, 3 pass breakups, one interception] and a fumble recovery. Baun entered his redshirt senior season on the watchlist for the

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

and was voted to be a team captain. He was named midseason All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

and ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' after leading the Badgers in sacks (6), tackles for loss (10.5), and forced fumbles (2) through the first six games of the season. Baun finished the season with 76 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks and was named first team All-Big Ten and a first team All-American by the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

and the

Walter Camp Football Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

Professional career

Baun was selected by the

in the third round with the 74th pick in the

. Baun made his debut on September 21, 2020, on ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

'' against the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

, playing on special teams.

References

External links

Wisconsin Badgers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baun, Zack 1996 births Living people People from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin Sportspeople from the Milwaukee metropolitan area American football linebackers Wisconsin Badgers football players New Orleans Saints players All-American college football players