When Zach Zenner first was admitted to the Sanford School of Medicine in 2016, he delayed medical school because of an NFL career he wasn’t sure would happen.

When he scored in the 96th percentile of the Medical College Admission Test in 2019, he again declined medical school. This time, it was because of a football career that had lasted longer than expected.

The running back from Eagan played five NFL seasons after signing with the Lions as an undrafted free agent out of South Dakota State in 2015, retiring after four years with Detroit and a fifth with the Saints, Cardinals and Dolphins. By that time, he was married with two kids under 18 months old. He prayed about the decision and reached the conclusion he wouldn’t go to medical school. His wife, Alyssa, already knew.

“Am I really gonna say, ‘OK, see you guys in 10 years?’ ” Zenner said. “That’s kind of the commitment timeline when you’re working a job as a doctor. And then I bring that up to my wife, and she goes, ‘Of course you’re not going to medical school.’ ”

He would instead use his degrees in biology/pre-med and nutrition as assets in his new career as a sports agent.

Zenner passed the NFL Players Association certification exam in 2021 and took a job with One West Sports Group, which represented him during his playing career. Zenner had done medical research in his offseasons as a player, and his conversations with Lions nutritionist Sarah Snyder turned him on to the idea that medical care could do more than just relieve maladies; it also could be used to optimize athletic performance.

“Most of the health care system is set up to make sick people not sick,” Zenner said. “But there’s this whole other side. You can be way better than ‘not sick.’ You can be really lean, really good energy, really sure mentally. There’s so much more available to you than just not having symptoms.”

While playing for the Lions, he followed Snyder’s suggestion he take a mediator release test to identify food sensitivities that might cause allergy or inflammation. He frequently used the cryotherapy machine and light bed in the team facility to help recovery.