AUSTIN, TEXAS — It wasn’t long ago that Blake Frazier was pretty much off the radar as a recruit. Early in his high school career he wasn’t a starter at the lower levels and was playing a different position.

“I was a backup tight end on JV my sophomore year,” Frazier said. “I wasn’t really anyone [people were] expecting to amount to a whole lot — a role player at best.”

Frazier says he trusted that his coaches had a plan for him. However, something happened to his body after that sophomore season that changed the trajectory of his football career.

“I put on about 55 pounds in three months,” Frazier recalled. “I ended up growing 2 inches between my sophomore and junior years.”

It was a total transformation and one that was planned. Frazier said his father helped push him to eat and eat a lot to put on that weight.

“There was a lot of struggles with that. It was not easy. It was all worth it, the nights sitting at the dinner table arguing with my dad because I didn’t want to finish the plate of food.”

With basically a new body, Frazier moved from tight end to offensive line and immediately starting getting attention heading into his junior season. A lot college coaches were coming to scout his teammate on the offensive line, Ian Reed (now at Clemson), but they noticed this other big guy on the other side of the line, which was Frazier. He quickly learned how exciting and stressful the world of recruiting can be.

“It picked up really quickly and [you are] trying to manage a season with your team while trying to manage your personal image,” Frazier said. “It was a difficult thing for me trying to figure out a balance.”

Frazier was able to manage it and be a big factor in the best season ever for Vandegrift. The Vipers won a district title and advanced to the 6A state title game for the first time in program history.

“Beating Katy was a historical event because they’ve been around forever, a blue blood of Texas high school football,” said Frazier. “Then obviously playing in AT&T Stadium was a really cool experience even though we couldn’t pull it out.” 

Vandegrift lost in that title game to DeSoto but Frazier sees it as motivation for himself and the other guys coming back for this season.

“I think that’s where a lot of the excitement comes in this year is knowing that when we get back to that level we won’t be as star struck and we’ll be ready to take care of business.”

As soon as last season was over, Frazier’s recruiting really ramped up again.

“I had 12 offers coming out of the season and then I got 13 in the month of January alone,” he said. “That was a lot. That month was a lot of attention. It almost made me feel a little bit bad because we just got off this state season and we’ve got guys playing their tails off and it seems like the spotlight's on me when it should be on other people, so that was kind of difficult for me.”

Frazier had a plan for how he wanted to handle his recruiting process, and that included taking all five of his official visits. His plans changed after a trip to Michigan.

“Took a visit to Michigan in March and couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” Frazier said. “It didn’t make sense to wait any more.”

The visit helped seal the deal but Frazier has had a love for Michigan for a long time. His dad, Steve Frazier, played there. He was actually on the same team and on the offensive line at the time Tom Brady was at Michigan. Frazier says to this day he has a poster of Brady in his room. Blake’s mom also went to Michigan. So he had strong ties to the Maize and Blue, but this decision was about his future.

“I wondered if I go there people would say that’s Steve Frazier’s son,” Frazier said. “ I kind of wanted to be my own person. I thought if I go to a different school I can do that a little better. Over time I realized the coaches at Michigan weren’t recruiting me because my dad played there, they were recruiting me because they want me as a player.”

With his college commitment out of the way, Frazier is now focused on his senior season and getting Vandegrift back to that state title game.