Having played more than 2,000 career snaps at West Virginia University, new Pittsburgh Steelers center Zach Frazier is bringing quite a bit of experience to the NFL level.
According to his offensive line coach at West Virginia in Matt Moore, he’s bringing quite a bit of strength to the NFL as well.
As a former wrestler who won four straight state championships in high school in West Virginia, finishing 159-2 in his career, Frazier has some incredibly strong hands and great core strength. For Moore, that will be the key for him entering the NFL.
Appearing on the 93.7 The Fan’s Joe Show with co-host Joe Starkey and Paul Zeise Tuesday morning, Moore spoke highly of Frazier’s strength and even highlighted a play from Frazier’s career against TCU that showed just what he brings to the table.
“When he gets big old hands, he gets his hands on people…there was a clip when he played TCU a couple years go. He got a hold of the linebacker and he had his hands on, and the linebacker tried to cross over, and he just took his hands and he flipped the guy on his head,” Moore said. “And this was startling. The kid just crossed his feet over and he just took his hands like he turned in the steering wheel and just flipped him completely all the way over.
“So yeah, he’s got some unbelievable core strength and just strong hands.”
We believe we’ve found the play that Moore was referencing on The Fan Tuesday afternoon. Though we’re not 100% sure, and we have reached out to Moore via Twitter for clarity, this appears to be the 2021 play at TCU that the veteran OL coach was referencing.
You can see the linebacker cross Frazier’s face on the run play, out-leveraging Frazier initially.
But then watch the way Frazier is able to roll his hips and bury the linebacker in the dirt.
That’s one heck of a rep from Frazier and certainly shows that core strength and grip strength to latch on, roll and finish. Having that wrestling background helps Frazier immensely in the hand fighting and leverage aspect.
Coming out of West Virginia, some of Frazier’s strength as a lineman had to do with his strength and hand usage. In his scouting report for Steelers Depot, Alex Kozora highlighted the following as strengths for Frazier:
- Strong upper body, tough and physical
- Sticks in running game, able to match interior plugging defensive tackles, steers and controls players as run blocker
- Runs his feet in run game and looks to finish his blocks
That certainly matches up with the tape and the comments from Moore.
Pittsburgh seems to have landed a true mauler in the run game, one who will thrive in new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s scheme that will lean heavily on the run game. He might not be the best athlete overall at the center position, but with his strength and ability to truly finish reps like this, even in compromising situations, the future appears rather bright for Frazier in the Black and Gold.
