Following a 9-3 loss to the New England Patriots in week two of the NFL preseason Saturday, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback spoke highly of former West Virginia center and current Steelers rookie Zach Frazier.
“What’s been awesome about him (Frazier), 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,” Wilson said in a postgame press conference. “I think that he’s he’s such a hard worker you know and that’s rare to find. You know as a rookie guys that have such professionalism and have an elite-level focus, he has elite level of focus. He’s done a great job tonight, he made a lot of great calls and just communication between [him and I] tonight.”
Frazier got the start against the Patriots and with Pittsburgh’s center Nate Herbig dealing with a shoulder injury, Frazier is expected to be the Steelers starter week one.
“With big Nate (Herbig) out, he’s got to step up,” Wilson said of Frazier. ” Think the best thing that he can do is just keep learning every day, you know that there’s going to be highs and lows, there’s going to be bumps in the road.”
In terms of Frazier’s performance on Saturday, Wilson said he thought he handled it well and took notice of Frazier’s eye contact.
“He went against a really good front tonight. They do a good job and I thought he handled it well,” Wilson said. “I thought he was composed, he didn’t blink. 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 the guy blink or not is he fearful and he has none of that. He’s got no fear and so I’m really excited where he’s going to go and you know take one day at a time.”
The Steelers will play one more preseason game on the road against the Detroit Lions and then they’ll open up their season on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, where Frazier is expected to make his NFL debut.
