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Sunday, June 11, 2023

Duck target at RB Nate Frazier: "I love the game and everything that comes with it"


Nate Frazier is Carlos Locklyn's kind of running back, particularly in his love of football and desire to be great. 

He approaches the game with the energy of Bucky Irving, a similar blend of speed, strength, balance, vision, determination and joy. Only thing, Frazier is 5-11, 208 pounds; bigger, stronger and faster.

Last year at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, the school of current Ducks Mase Funa and Keyon Ware-Hudson, Frazier sped his way to 791 yards on 61 carries with 9 touchdowns, an astounding 11.4 yards a carry.

His team lost a tense, thrilling final to St. John Bosco and new Oregon defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei in the California Division One State Championship, 24-22. Frazier bolted for a 23-yard run, limited by Uiagalelei and the Brave defense to five carries for 30 yards. Uiagalelei snagged a 20-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. No doubt they'll give each other unending grief in practice, two titans from the storied Trinity League, the premier conference in Southern California football.

Frazier is strong.


Nineteen reps of 225 is remarkable for a junior in high school, a testament to his dedication. That mark would have placed him 5th among running backs at the NFL Combine, just ahead of UCLA's Zach Charbonnet, a 220-pound, 22-year-old man.

Frazier is fast. This spring he ran the 100 meters in 10.58 at the West Coast Relays, the 200 in 21.62 at the Orange County Championship. He improved his 100 time by .15 seconds from sophomore to junior year. Breaking into the open field after contact in a game against Mililani of Hawaii he accelerated to 20.8 miles per hour on a 53-yard touchdown. After contact and a stumble, in pads.


 On the Monarchs prospect-studded roster (the only school in the country that's produced three Heisman Trophy winners, Bryce Young, Matt Leinart and John Huarte) Frazier shared the carries with 2025 4-star recruit Jordon Davison, another Top 25 player in the state. That's actually good, because for both it vastly improves the Load Management, the wear and tear that shortens the careers of running backs and often leads to injury.

Mater Dei went 12-1 while playing an elite schedule, not just the Trinity League but Mililani, Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, Centennial High in Corona, California and West High of Salt Lake City. Frazier got to display his skills against rosters loaded with Division One prospects, yet didn't get beat up the way he might in a football-crazed town in West Texas, where a Maalox-gulping coach would lean on him for 30 carries a game under the Friday night lights.  

Touches, not punishment. Carrying a little more of the load as a sophomore he scored 16 touchdowns for St. Pius X-St. Matthias in Downey, California.


Scouting Notes:

Runs thru the hole. Fights through contact-- doesn't bounce everything outside
Good inside runner,  great combination of balance, power and speed.
Plays in a top program with top competition, exceptional balance and vision
Sharp cuts, hits the hole strong, sticks his foot in the ground.
YAC. Punishing. Really finishes runs. 
Great work ethic and cross training, weightlifting, track. 
Versatile. Catches the ball with natural hands. Eats up yards in the open field.
Big enough to be an effective blocker/pass protector and he embraces it as part of the work--delivers a blow straight to the chest, sets his feet, gets his legs behind it. 
Determination and desire remind me of Bucky Irving, but he's already bigger than Irving.

As a Duck coaches Locklyn and Stein could use Frazier in a variety of ways: at running back, in the slot, motioning in and out of the backfield, lead-blocking or following a blocker in two-back sets. He's reliable in pass protection and dangerous slipping out of the backfield.

Even so, it won't be easy to earn his commitment. The Mater Dei senior has June visits to Alabama and Georgia and gets regular phone calls from Nick Saban, who boasts his own stable of Heisman winners and first round draft choices. Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and USC are all making ardent pitches. Frazier has enough offers to bury the salt on the kitchen table. That's only motivated him to work harder, often two training sessions a day.

He takes an official visit to Eugene on June 16th.

It's a testament to how Dan Lanning has elevated Oregon recruiting. These days they go head-to-head with the top teams for top players, getting their share. They sit 9th in the country for 2024. Lanning wants a Top Five class.

 
Posted by Dale Bliss at 4:55 AM

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