Brandon Yates' focus is on himself knowing he has big shoes to fill
It's hard to replace an All-American and NFL Draft pick but it's even harder when the spotlight is on you every play.
For WVU center Brandon Yates, he knows he has big shoes to fill replacing Zach Frazier but he is focused on himself and nothing else.
"Stepped into my role, have some shoes to fill of course. I just go out there and do the best I can do and be a better leader. Since Zach left I feel like I had to step in that role and become a different kind of leader," Yates said.
Yates has some familiarity with the center position, playing it in WVU's bowl game and on a game-winning drive against Baylor to conclude the regular season. He's still adjusting to the position but says it's similar to guard where he played last year.
"Once the ball is snapped at that point it’s basically guard. Most guys aren’t going to play down the middle of me, if you play down the middle of me, it’s going to be a fight at that point. When I talk differences between inside and outside, I just think about body types," Yates said.
Yates wants his game on the field to speak for itself and for him to lead that way while he doesn't want to change who he is just because his role is different either.
"That took some time for sure. You look around and try to fit into that mold that you see other people kind of just do already. I kind of just walked in there and I just wanted to go out there and do the best thing I can be and do the best thing I can do and be myself," Yates said.
"When I was being recruited a coach told me your main goal in college is to come in college and be the best college player you can be and everything else will fall in line. So that’s all I wanted to do. I just wanted to improve every single day and get stronger, faster, smarter in the game of football and just my main goal is to be the best college player I can be. Everything else will fall in line after that."
Yates and Frazier still talk every now and then but try and leave the football stuff out of it. Yates has watched Frazier play at the next level for the Pittsburgh Steelers and knows his time is coming.
"Every time he comes down we talk about football and stuff like that. We don’t talk about football that much, we just keep it light," Yates said of his and Frazier's relationship. "Me and him understand we’re both very different in how we do things and how we play football. I still do model myself somewhat after him. He does some things really well and you can obviously see him playing in the preseason he does some things really well. I take some of those things and we talk now and then. Me and him we just keep it very light. Some guys just want to talk regular things."
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