The Pittsburgh Steelers selected former West Virginia University offensive tackle Zach Frazier, right, with their second-round draft pick. (Photo courtesy of BlueGoldNews.com)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Let’s, for a moment, understand that West Virginia All-American center Zach Frazier was drafted to become the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting center from the minute he first walked onto the practice field.
Yes, he was a second-round draft pick, but he was no ordinary second-round pick. He was as special a player as advertised when some had him in the first round of some mock drafts and was likely a key component to the rebuilding work the Steelers felt they had to do on their offensive line.
They took a bit of a gamble by waiting until the second inning to get him, something general manager Omar Khan admitted in an interview on WDVE’s morning show.
“The reality is that we are going through this just like everyone else,” Khan said. “You don’t know who the people in front of you are choosing. Obviously, it’s well documented that (Frazier was) a guy we were targeting. We had conversations about moving up, but obviously that didn’t happen.”
And then there were more than a few anxious moments.
“I think it was Washington who was on the clock before us, and we were practically on edge waiting to see who they would pick. Zach was still there and I can’t tell you how excited I am that he was there and that we were able to cast him. He’s a Steeler.
They were returning to the glory days of Super Bowl champion teams and to think you could achieve that, you had to have an exceptional player at center.
The Steelers’ history is rich at that position, with none greater than the late Mike Webster, who for some could rank as the greatest center of all time as he anchored Chuck Noll’s offensive line in the 1970s and 1980s. nine Pro Bowls, was the center of four Super Bowl championship teams and was enshrined in the Canton Hall of Fame.
He was the blue collar that suited the offense and the city he represented.
He was the middle man not only on the offensive line, but in a triumvirate of Steeler great centers, coming after Ray Mansfield, who held the position for 180 games, and before Dermontti Dawson, who changed the way the position was played at played in seven Pro Bowls – six of them consecutively – and was named to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team.
Either way, the shoes Frazier will be given in training camp will be tough to fill, no matter the size.
The importance of Frazier’s success to the Steelers can best be understood through the philosophy presented by Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown.
When Brown started the Cleveland Browns in the old All-America Football League, two championships before Frank “Gunner” Farmington’s Gatski became their starting center via Marshall.
In his first year there, the Browns went 15-0 and Gatski was there for the Browns dominating early years in the NFL as he advanced to the Hall of Fame.
The importance of a center was never lost on Brown, and when he started the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968, his first draft pick was Bob Johnson, an All-American center from Tennessee.
“You start in football with the most important things first,” Brown told reporters on draft day. “Taking Johnson as a center to work with (quarterback) John Stofa, who we already have (through the NFL expansion draft) is like building a baseball team in the middle. He’s like getting a good catcher in baseball to work with a great pitcher.”
That’s the path the Steelers are taking with Frazier, who, like Johnson, wore No. 54 at West Virginia. They brought in veteran quarterback Russell Wilson, who might even remind Frazier of working in front of Garrett Greene.
The idea behind ensuring you make the right choice at center when building a team is that centers typically have long careers and are the leaders and glue that holds the offense together. They must be smart, durable and have the mindset of a leader.
When Brown called out Johnson, he said: “It assures us that he will be in professional football for a long time.”
In that regard, Frazier appears to emulate Johnson, who had an 11-year career with the Bengals.
Times were different, of course, as evidenced by the fact that the day after the draft, Johnson’s father went out and bought season tickets for his family to Bengal games. They cost him $54 each… and now you know why they call them “the good old days.”
Like Frazier, Johnson was as good in the classroom as he was on the field, graduating cum laude with a degree in engineering from Tennessee.
It appears to be the perfect fit for both the Steelers and Frazier and history says he will become a steady presence on a team hungry to reclaim its place in the NFL pecking order and continue to play in front of a fan base if at all possible. as rabid as the Mountaineer fans themselves.
