If you have ever taken a flight before, you know the flight attendant’s safety spiel – in the event of an emergency, put on your own oxygen mask before attempting to help others. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ second-round center is applying that advice to himself as he takes his first steps into the NFL.
“Take care of myself first, and make sure all my ducks are in a row before I start leading others,” Frazier said via a clip from rookie minicamp posted by PG Sports Now on YouTube.
Frazier was a three-time team captain at West Virginia and helped turn the program around with his leadership presence. Those leadership characteristics should eventually be able to transfer over to the NFL level to help lead the offensive line in Pittsburgh, but Frazier knows he will not be able to do that until he feels comfortable himself.
After he was drafted, Frazier talked about diving right into the playbook so he could be prepared. As it turns out, they don’t get provided the playbook right away.
“I didn’t get the playbook until probably four or five days ago,” Frazier said. “I got my iPad and then I’ve just been cramming ever since.”
From just learning the playbook to starting to put it together on the field at rookie minicamp, this is the first step for all of the new players towards their NFL journeys. Depending on the college they went to and the amount of coaching turnover, some of these players could have had the same or a very similar playbook for the last few seasons. They now have to adjust to an NFL playbook and the various concepts that may be slightly different from what they did in college.
One thing that will help the offensive linemen in that regard is the fact that there are three rookies coming up together – something all three of them mentioned during their post-practice interviews yesterday. Frazier drove Troy Fautanu and Mason McCormick to practice, and the brotherhood is already starting to form among the future core group of the offensive line. Some of their experience with each other date further back than this week, too.
“I met Troy briefly at the combine, and then Mason and I actually trained together before the combine, so we knew each other well,” Frazier said. “Both great guys, and I really just can’t wait to work with them and hopefully be together for a long time.”
