Steelers get their center, draft WVU's Zach Frazier in 2nd round

The new coordinator got two shiny new pieces that should go a long way toward instilling an old-school mentality for his offense for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A day after taking a tackle with their first-round pick, the Steelers made it 2-for-2 in adding offensive linemen when they selected West Virginia center Zach Frazier in Round 2 on Friday evening.

“If you want to play a certain brand of football — the Steelers brand of football — it certainly helps to have the right guys,” Arthur Smith said soon after the pick of Frazier in his first comments to media since being hired as offensive coordinator in January.

Smith’s background in building NFL offenses involves leaning on a strong running game and controlling the line of scrimmage. The addition of Frazier and former University of Washington tackle Troy Fautanu with the first two picks of this draft follows the expenditure of last year’s first-round pick on another offensive lineman in tackle Broderick Jones.

“I know how much O-line (play) means to the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Frazier said in a conference call with media soon after being selected, “and their long tradition there of having great offensive linemen and great offensive lines. So, it’s special.”

When the Steelers get Frazier in training camp, they will find a player with plenty of positive traits.

He has the experience of a lineman who started 100 games from ninth grade through college and the strength of a four-time state champion wrestler who didn’t lose a match after his freshman year at Fairmont (W.Va.) High School.

But that’s only part of the reason the Steelers drafted Frazier.

Frazier (6-foot-2, 315 pounds) was one of the most accomplished centers in college football throughout his time in Morgantown and was projected by The Athletic to be “a quality NFL starting center the moment he is drafted.”

“It’s a rarity you find a guy (in Round 2) with this kind of pedigree,” Smith said. “He’s been a high achiever his whole life.”

Frazier followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a center at Division II Fairmont State. His grandfather and three uncles also were state wrestling champions in West Virginia.

For his part, Zach Frazier was first-team all-state in football three times and honorable mention as a freshman. He was an honorable-mention freshman All-American at WVU in 2020 after he had been the first West Virginia true freshman to start on the offensive line since 1980. Frazier improved to second-team All-American as a sophomore and senior and first-team as a junior.

At the NFL Combine, he was recovering from a broken leg suffered in the final regular-season game, but he put up 30 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. Weightlifting came natural for Frazier, who built his own home gym when he was in middle school.

The Steelers were known to have entered the draft in desperate need for a center. They’d been without a starter at the position since the release of veteran Mason Cole in February. Cole had been the Steelers’ first-team snapper for two seasons since signing a three-year deal in March 2022. He replaced Kendrick Green, who was a starter in 2021 as a rookie third-round pick selected to replace 12-year perennial Pro Bowler Maurkice Pouncey.

Many thought the Steelers might take a center in Round 1, and they had the pick of the litter when they selected No. 20 overall Thursday. But after instead opting for Fautanu, center again was prominent among Steelers’ known targets in Round 2.

As might be expected in having the 20th pick of the round, many of the names the Steelers might have been interested in flew off the board as the draft got back underway soon after 7 p.m. Friday.

Three receivers went among the first five selections of the second round. Then, starting with the eighth pick of the second round (40th overall), four consecutive picks were used on cornerbacks. Two had visited the Steelers’ facility (Iowa’s Cooper DeJean and Rutgers’ Max Melton) in an official capacity earlier this month.

But though receiver and cornerback are known areas of need, center was arguably the Steelers’ most gaping hole. Duke’s Graham Barton went 26th overall to Tampa Bay late Thursday, and the other consensus top-two center — Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson — made it to No. 44 overall when Las Vegas nabbed him.

That left Frazier atop the list of available centers, and the Steelers happily grabbed him.

“It’s unbelievable,” Frazier said. “I live an hour and a half away and that’s the closest NFL team, and I just couldn’t be more excited. I am so excited I don’t have words for it.”