PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – With the injury news reported on Sunday, first by the Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac, that veteran center/guard Nate Herbig has a torn rotator cuff and could miss the season. It's now Zach Frazier's job for what the Steelers hope is another decade-long run at the position.
The Steelers have been spoiled at that position first with the underrated Ray Mansfield to a pair of back-to-back Hall of Famers in Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson. A really good center in Justin Hartwig keyed a Super Bowl win to first-round pick Maurkice Pouncey who saw it through nearly the rest of Ben Roethlisberger's career.
Recently what was a stable position for the Steelers has turned to uncertainty, to put it kindly. Roethlisberger's final year was marred by Kendrick Green at center followed by a couple years of Mason Cole-who brought leadership, but was released a year before his contract expired and remains a free agent.
The team made center a priority in drafting Frazier in the second-round out of West Virginia. An All-American, he started 47 games with the Mountaineers. He was exclusively the second-team center in offseason drills and training camp until very recently, but was destined to start.
"I was largely satisfied with the work that I saw from Zach," Tomlin said after the game on Saturday.
"It felt good to be out there," Frazier said, adding he felt comfortable. "Obviously got to be better, I'm always going to be hard on myself. Definitely had some good things and things to clean up."
He'll get one more preseason game before he will be the center for real in Atlanta in a couple of weeks. Players have praised his work, especially recently as Broderick Jones said Frazier is now comfortable being vocal and does a good job calling out adjustments.
Just this past Thursday assistant general manager Andy Weidl had his yearly required media gathering and was asked about drafting Frazier.
"He's a captain," Weidl said. "He's a mature guy. We just know him really well. He's right in our backyard. We had a comfort level. We saw him play here two years ago against Pitt, and I remember at halftime, (Steelers scout) Dan Colbert coming up to me, and he's like, 'Do you see that center from West Virginia dumping guys on the ground?' I said, 'Yeah, we both saw it,' and he was on our radar then."
Weidl said they went down and saw him in person when West Virginia played against BYU. He said WVU had 200 yards rushing in the first half and Frazier was just mowing guys down.
It's a special football character according to Weidl. It's about the makeup of a player that sealed their thoughts and led to them using their second-round pick on the Fairmont, West Virginia star.
"They're good centers," Weidl said. "Obviously, in the draft, throughout the draft, we felt, but he was one of the better ones, and we were just fortunate to get him where we got him in the second round."
Behind Frazier is interesting, as Herbig could have been a back-up center and guard, the only position he played in NFL action. A seventh-round pick last year Spencer Anderson has worked almost exclusively as a guard this camp and last year took a number of reps at center. Ryan McCollum has been in the NFL since 2021 out of Texas A&M, having played 13 games with the Lions three years ago starting one. Steelers also drafted guard Mason McCormick and while he is still working on his technique, he could be heir apparent to James Daniels' right guard spot as Daniels is in the final year of his contract.
It's a tough break for Herbig, the players love him and he loves playing the game. The didn't draft Zach Frazier to watch for long and now is his opportunity to do.
