With veteran center Nate Herbig sidelined for an extended amount of time moving forward due to a shoulder injury, the starting center job for the Pittsburgh Steelers falls to rookie Zach Frazier.
That starting role, well, started Saturday against the Buffalo Bills Saturday in the preseason matchup at Acrisure Stadium. In his first NFL start, Frazier had some good moments against Buffalo and made an impression on veteran quarterback Russell Wilson in the process.
Though things didn’t go well overall for the offense Saturday in the 9-3 loss to the Bills, Wilson was impressed with Frazier in the starting role, praising him after the game for showing no fear in the huddle under the bright lights.
“Zach’s, man, what’s been awesome about him? He’s played a lot of football. Zach has, he’s played so many games. He started at the highest level in college. He’s tough. I think that he’s such a hard worker, and that’s rare to find as a rookie, guys that have such professionalism and have an elite level of focus,” Wilson said, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “He has elite level of focus. And he’s done a great job tonight. He made a lot of great calls and just communication between me and him tonight. Obviously, with Big Nate out, he’s gotta step up…
“And I think the best thing that he can do is just keep learning every day, knowing that there’s gonna be highs and lows. There’s gonna be bumps in the road. He went against a really good front tonight; they do a good job. And I thought he handled it well. I thought he was composed. He didn’t blink.”
During his time at West Virginia, Frazier played more than 2,600 snaps, serving as a vital part of the West Virginia program.
He played at a high level and played on some huge stages, which has him prepared stepping into the NFL.
Though it’s just the preseason, that stage for young players can still be quite a bit to handle. But for Frazier, there were no issues on Saturday night, at least in Wilson’s eyes.
Snaps were clean and smooth. Calls were made properly and protections were set up well. Guys just didn’t execute, which put the Steelers behind schedule and let to offensive struggles.
While Wilson was somewhat frustrated with those struggles considering the strong practices the team had in recent days and weeks in training camp, there was no frustration when it came to talking about Frazier.
“Anytime you’re playing with a rookie center, you’re playing with younger players, it’s the eye contact in the huddle that you see. And what does that feel like? Does a guy blink or not? Is he fearful? And he has none of that,” Wilson said of Frazier. “He’s got no fear. And so I’m really excited where he’s gonna go and take it one day at a time and we’ll be better.”
Frazier has been taking it a day at a time, aiming to get better every day dating back to his collegiate days. That’s not going to change. He has no fear and doesn’t blink, which should have fans thrilled moving forward with a potential franchise center in the mix.
