The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class’ best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here’s our report on Zach Fraizer.
Zach Frazier’s 2024 NFL Combine RESULTS
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 313
40-yard dash: 5.24 (Pro Day)
20-Yard Shuttle: DNP
Vertical jump: 28.5″ (Pro Day)
Broad jump: DNP
Arm Length: 32 1/4”
Zach Frazier 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
Versatile interior lineman with experience playing guard and center in more than 46 starts for WVU.
Looks for work when he is uncovered, playing with good physicality to help his teammates in pass protection.
Strong, active hands at the point of attack to control defenders with power (locks on once engaged).
Plays with good pad level and leverage, allowing him to anchor and prevent a push vs. powerful defenders.
Technically sound in his footwork as a pass blocker and run blocker, allowing him to play balanced.
Good recognition and vision to see and react to stunts and blitzes to trade off defenders in pass protection.
Ample athleticism and technique in taking proper angles to get on edge and up to the second level (run/screen game).
Excels on power run schemes to create movement and control blocks (duo schemes/combo blocks to the second level).
Good patience in his pass set, allowing him to play with good vision to see rush schemes and move his feet.
WEAKNESSES
Lacks top-end athleticism due to tight hips, which affects his ability to move laterally vs. quicker defenders.
Struggles to redirect and change directions vs. good secondary rushes, causing him to play off balance.
Heavy feet when changing directions and moving laterally vs. quicker defenders in space.
Tendency to come off blocks against active pass rushers with good use of hands and quickness (slow feet).
Waist bender who leans into blocks, causing him to fall off blocks due to poor weight distribution.
Sep 17, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers offensive lineman Zach Frazier (54) celebrates with fans after defeating the Towson Tigers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
NFL TRANSITION
Frazier started 46 games for WVU with 37 of them at center from 2021-2023. He played LG in 2020, showing good position versatility on the interior. He’s a stout, strong interior lineman with the power to hold his ground against power rushes due to playing with good leverage and pad level.
Once engaged, his strong hands allow him to control defenders, allowing him to generate movement in the run game and limit push. Frazier is most productive playing in tight spaces between the tackles (power runs: duo schemes/combo blocks). He struggled at times when playing in space with quicker defenders who forced him to react laterally. Fraizer is technically sound and takes good angles in the run game, playing with good vision to react to stunts/blitzes in pass protection.
Overall, Frazier has the size and skills to play guard and center in the NFL. He’s technically sound and powerful with strong hands to control defenders once engaged in his blocks. However, he’s not as laterally quick as some other linemen, causing him to come off blocks and struggle to play in space at times.
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Frazier will immediately provide depth with the potential to become a solid starter by improving his lateral agility and quickness.
OTHER NOTES
Frazier came out of Fairmont, WV as a three-star recruit. He was a four-time Heavy Weight State-Champion Wrestler, only losing two matches his entire career. He initially played left guard as a freshman (nine starts) and then moved to center, starting 37 consecutive games (46 total starts).
Frazier was a two-time All-American (2021, 2023), three-time All-Big 12 (2022, 2023 First-Team and 2021 Second-Team), and was a three-time team captain. In 2023, he was a finalist for the William Campbell Trophy — the most prestigious academic/athletic award.
In 2020, Frazier played primarily at left guard (550 of his 657 snaps at LG) and was solid. Of these plays, he had 386 pass plays, allowing only seven pressures (1.8 percent pressure rate). Frazier had 271 running plays with two blown assignments (0.7 percent bad run block rate).
During the last three seasons, he had the sixth most offensive snaps at center with all 2,477 coming there, except for two snaps at RT. Of these plays, he had 1,277 pass plays, allowing only 17 pressures (1.3 percent pressure rate). Frazier had 1,200 running plays with only 21 blown assignments (1.8 percent bad run block rate).
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Greg Cosell has been a senior producer at NFL Films for more than four decades. He is the creator of ESPN’s NFL Matchup and has been a longtime analyst on the show. Cosell, who co-authored the book The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays, is the nephew of Howard Cosell, the legendary voice of Monday Night Football.
Michigan State football appears to be closing in on their newest commitment in the 2025 recruiting class, looking to flip a prospect committed to another power conference school.
Terrance ‘Deuce’ Edwards is a defensive back prospect committed to West Virginia. A high 3-star prospect, Edwards is the cousin of former MSU wide receiver Felton Davis. He is from Richmond, Virginia.
After an official visit to see the Spartans defeat Purdue on Friday night, the Spartans seem to be in pole position to flip the West Virginia commit, receiving crystal ball predictions from the 247Sports staff.
At 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Edwards is someone that can play both outside cornerback and in the nickel position.
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Be on the lookout for movement in this recruitment in the coming days.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner
Former West Virginia University defensive standouts, Arizona defensive lineman Dante Stills and linebacker Kyzir White, are looking to slow down West Virginia’s all-time passing leader Geno Smith and the Seattle offense Sunday afternoon in a critical divisional game in the NFC West. It’s the first meeting between the two divisional rivals this season.
On the Seahawks’ first possession of the game, Geno Smith delivered a dart to DK Metcalf for 29 yards on third and seven. Then, on third and four and just inside Arizona territory at the 47-yard line, Smith was sacked by Dante Stills, forcing the Seahawks to punt.
With the sack, Stills has 4.5 sacks on the season. In addition, he currently has 30 tackles, and four tackles for a loss this season.
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Arizona sits atop the NFC West at 6-4 but a Seattle win and a Los Angeles Rams loss against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday night places the Seahawks in first place.
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Although the sportsbooks didn’t have the West Virginia Mountaineers favored to beat UCF, everyone who has followed this team all year long saw Saturday’s result coming from a mile away.
I’m not trying to be smart here, but this team is the purest definition of average. They beat the teams they should and lose to the teams they should. There haven’t been any whacky results where they’ve lost to an inferior squad or taken down one above them in the Big 12 standings. They’re just average.
Beating UCF isn’t something to pound your chest about by any means, with all due respect to the Knights. They entered the weekend with a 4-6 record and had lost six of its last seven coming into the matchup.
For WVU head coach Neal Brown, this was more about not losing this game than it was about winning it. Now, if you ask him, that’s not the answer he’d provide, but it’s just the truth of the situation. Had the Mountaineers found a way to let this one slip through their fingers, the pressure on athletics director Wren Baker would have been turned up to extreme levels.
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Just because WVU didn’t lose to UCF doesn’t necessarily mean that West Virginia is 100% moving forward with Neal Brown as head coach, but that’s the sense I get. With the early signing period set to begin on December 4th, just days after the final game of the season at Texas Tech, it leaves very little time for a change to be made at the end of the regular season.
Plus, if the Mountaineers win in Lubbock and then go on to win the bowl game, they’ll finish the year with an 8-5 record, bringing them just one game shy of what they accomplished a year ago. That doesn’t make it acceptable by any means; it just lessens the sting of what has been a very disappointing season.
If this does happen, WVU will have put together the best two-year stretch they’ve had since joining the Big 12 with consecutive 6-3 records. Now, when you look at who those 12 wins have come against, it’s not the most impressive thing in the world, but it’s still something for the administration to point to as a sign of hope. It also means the Mountaineers would finish somewhere in the top half of the league, which is on par with what they were picked to do in the preseason poll.
Again, don’t confuse this with what I believe I think should happen. WVU wants to do everything it possibly can to avoid having to pay Neal Brown’s buyout. If that means clinging on for another year, so be it. It’s not what I would do if I were Wren Baker, but that’s the feeling I get.
WVU sees the frustration from the fanbase. They share that disappointment, believe it or not.
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But the one thing I keep wondering is if next year’s non-conference slate is part of what keeps him around. Not that a decision like this is being made based on that, but 2025 will be the first year in Brown’s tenure that WVU didn’t play two Power Four teams in non-conference play. Instead of challenging yourself, you can gift-wrap another win by substituting that game with a Group of Five opponent.
This is the way WVU wants to schedule moving forward, so seeing how Brown handles a supposedly lighter slate may be what they view as a fair assessment instead of going off the previous six years of falling short of expectations. Is that how it should be handled? No, but just throwing that out there as something that may be tossed around from within.
I haven’t heard a peep about West Virginia plans to do with Brown, but if I had to put my money on it, I expect that he’ll be back in 2025. Should they fail to meet expectations next year, they’ll cut ties. WVU has already given Neal Brown one of the longest leashes you’ll see, and sticking with him for another year will show the next head coach how patient the university is.
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Mountaineer Postgame Show: WVU 31, UCF 21
What Neal Brown Said Following the Win Over UCF
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West Virginia Sends Seniors Out with a Win in the Home Finale
Initial Thoughts: WVU Becomes Bowl Eligible, Quiets the Noise Around Neal Brown
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