Navy?s Nate Frazier only has seen limited playing time in three college football games, but the sophomore nose guard already stands out on the field.
At 6-feet-3 and 285 pounds, Frazier is the largest among projected defensive starters ? and it?s not even close. He?s at least 27 pounds heavier than any of the unit?s players, many of whom weight fewer than 240 pounds.
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“I don’t want everybody building him up like he’s the second coming of Deacon Jones,” Coach Paul Johnson said. “Let’s watch him play first. He may get beat out before the season starts. There will be a lot of guys competing in there.”
But few on the defensive line have as much experience as Frazier, whose strength and athleticism rival any of his teammates, Johnson said. Now, he just has to prove it with his play, beginning Saturday’s scrimmage at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. He?ll try to maintain his spot atop the depth card ahead of 6-foot-4, 251-pound sophomore Jordan Stephens.
Frazier, an Atlanta native, said he was able to ascend the depth chart largely because his constant practices against center Antron Harper, regarded as Navy?s top offensive lineman. Frazier also spent this past summer in Annapolis attending every voluntary workout.
“In the spring, [Johnson] told me he wanted me to step up and be a leader,” Frazier said. “I’m not that much of a talker and choose to lead by example. I was here in summer school and everyday you just had to suck it up and go work out.”
Frazier said his path, which he hopes includes a spot in the starting lineup for the season-opener against Temple Aug. 31 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, has been filled with obstacles.
Frazier arrived at Navy last fall after spending the previous year at Wyoming Seminary Prep School in Pennsylvania after he failed to meet the academic requirements to gain admission into the Naval Academy after spending the 2004-05 school year at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport , R.I.
“Some days I didn’t want to work out but I can see it paying off now that camp has started,” Frazier said. “A lot of the guys are getting hurt but you just have to keep working hard and pushing through
it.”
