Former West Virginia center Zach Frazier got the call from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday night during day two of the 2024 NFL Draft.
It wasn’t without issues, as Frazier struggled with cell service at his uncle’s house and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Co. asked multiple times if Frazier could hear them.
In the end, it all worked out and Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth went out onto the podium to announce the selection of Frazier at 51st overall.
Now, Frazier is “unbelievably excited” to be joining the Steelers.
“I want to thank the Rooney family. I want to thank [general manager] Omar Khan. I want to thank coach Tomlin. I want to thank everyone that helped me get here, my family, my wife. I want to thank everyone at West Virginia that has helped me up to this point. I’m ready to get to work,” Frazier said.
The city of Pittsburgh is known for having that “tough.” The Steelers are among the NFL’s winningest franchises of all time and the great Steelers teams historically have had strong running games and elite defenses. Zach Frazier has shown that toughness that included the way he helped West Virginia complete a comeback win against Baylor in his final game for the Mountaineers.
“I was just kind of raised to do everything you can to do everything that in your power to help the team win and I didn’t even think twice about it.”
Frazier is originally from Fairmont, West Virginia, which is about an hour and a half south of Pittsburgh. He says it was nice to just be able to drive up without taking a plane flight.
“It was unbelievable to just hop in my truck and drive up here and not have to get on a plane. When I think it hit me is when I drove through the tunnel and saw the city, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is real, this is pretty cool.’”
The Steelers share Acrisure Stadium with the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt and West Virginia have a fierce rivalry with one another, and Frazier says it’s weird to see the people of West Virginia hating Pitt but loving the Steelers.
“It’s funny. The people in West Virginia, they hate Pitt but they love the Steelers. It’s the weirdest thing but yeah, it’s definitely going to be special.”
During Frazier’s time at West Virginia, West Virginia built its way into having one of the best offensive lines in college football. Now the Steelers are trying to do the same thing in the NFL with all the pieces that they have added over the last three years.
“I think at offensive line, it’s important to build chemistry with the guys next to you. That’s kind of how it was with me at West Virginia, we had the same group of guys for basically three years and by my senior year last year, we were all pretty tight and kind of knew what each other were thinking.”
Steelers general manager Omar Khan admitted that they were feeling the nerves hoping Zach Frazier would fall to them at 51st overall in the second round of the draft. The organization is excited to have Frazier joining them in 2024.
“We’re extremely excited to bring Zach into the program,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “It’s rare you find a guy with that kind of pedigree and his resume and the amount of snaps he has in college.”
“His quality play speaks to the player that he is,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. “He needs no endorsement from me. You guys are familiar with him. He’s a regional guy. He’s a tough competitor. He was an instant contributor in Morgantown. He’s got an awesome background from a read perspective, a high school wrestling champ and got a lot of respect for that combat sport.”
Up next for Frazier and the Steelers rookies is rookie minicamp in a few weeks. The Steelers signed former West Virginia cornerback Beanie Bishop as an undrafted rookie, reuniting the two in the pros.
