Brown: Center Frazier has it all
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown doesn’t have to look hard to find something good to say about his former center Zach Frazier with the NFL Draft around the corner.
Frazier spent four seasons with the Mountaineers football program and started all but one of his 47 career appearances with the first year spent at left guard before moving to center. The Fairmont native was a centerpiece of the offensive line and developed into one of the premier options in the Big 12.
“He’s got the physical tools. Plays with great leverage, and his hands are extremely strong. Mentally, schematically he’s as advanced as anybody in his class,” Brown said.
Frazier not only displayed work ethic on the field but in his preparation in the film and meeting room. When he arrived in Morgantown Frazier had never played the center position, but once assuming the role as a sophomore he continued to show improvement in all areas until he became dominant.
That included the snaps themselves as well as his understanding.
“We probably did as good of a job as I’ve been around at getting people on the most dangerous defensive threats and he was making those identifications,” he said.
There is a noticeable void with Frazier not in the program.
"His sheer presence, his physicality, the way he plays the game," offensive coordinator Chad Scott said. "...He's one of one."
But perhaps even more importantly Frazier is just as impressive as a person.
“They’re going to get a great teammate and tremendous human being first and foremost,” Brown said. “That’s not everybody but that’s him.”
One of the areas which he made the biggest jump off the field was in his communication. It wasn’t natural to him at first, but he can now communicate in a press setting or get in front of his teammates and talk to the point where Brown received very positive feedback on his meetings with NFL personnel.
His former head coach believes that Frazier is not only physically, but mentally equipped to step into a role at the NFL level from the jump similar to how he did making the leap from high school to college.
“I firmly believe he’s going to be a starter in the National Football League from year one as long as he is physically able to play. I think he’s worthy of a very early draft pick,” he said.
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