In the past few months, a lot of the dots have lined up from a connection standpoint for the Pittsburgh Steelers and West Virginia center Zach Frazier.
Those dots lined up perfectly Friday night as the Steelers selected the West Virginia standout at No. 51 overall, addressing the center position in a major way.
Entering the draft, the center position was a major need for the Steelers. Now, it might be a strength with the addition of Frazier.
For new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who spoke to reporters Friday night following the selection of Frazier, the West Virginia native is now a member of the Black and Gold because of his pedigree and resume, along with the consistency that he’s had throughout his career in college.
“…you find a guy with that kind of pedigree and his resume and the amount of snaps he has in college. Certainly his background in wrestling, he’s been a high achiever his whole life, and we couldn’t be more fired up to get Zach in the building,” Smith said of the Steelers’ selection in the second round, according to video via Steelers.com.
During his time in college, Frazier played 2,606 snaps at center for the Mountaineers, which is the most snaps of any center in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The resume is there, as Smith stated, from an experience standpoint. So, too, is the pedigree. Frazier was a 2023 First Team All-Big 12 center, and was a finalist for the Academic Heisman award in college last season.
Though he did suffer the broken leg to end his career at West Virginia, his overall consistency on the field and his toughness and leadership provided to the Mountaineers was attractive to the Steelers, and ultimately led to Pittsburgh making the move to select the West Virginia standout.
He checked a lot of boxes for the Steelers and appears to be the missing piece to the rebuilt offensive line in the Steel City, especially after Pittsburgh selected Washington’s Troy Fautanu in the first round of the draft on Thursday night.
A high achiever all of his life, like Smith pointed out, now it’s up to Frazier to continue that trend in the NFL. He’s expected to be a Day One starter for the Steelers at a major position of need in the middle of a rebuilt offensive line under Smith in his first year as the offensive coordinator as the Steelers look to restore that physical, run-heavy approach they’ve had so much success with in the past.
