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BOULDER — For the vast majority of athletes, it isn’t practicing in the rain or blistering heat that brings out their love of the game.
Screaming fans, storybook wins…those are moments that inspire athletes to fall deeper in love with competition.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be hard to understand someone being frustrated or discouraged when their preparations, those practices and evenings spent reviewing game film, led to a less than climactic conclusion.
In modern college football, that’s basically describing the fullback position. Colorado’s George Frazier, who has also seen time at defensive end and tight end, hasn’t let his inconsistent usage a year ago discourage him from preparing in full for his junior campaign.
“As long as I’m doing my part and the team is winning I’m very happy,” he says through a smile. It’s the correct answer for any athlete that isn’t interested in starting a controversy. But Frazier admits that there have been weeks in the past where taking such an approach was more difficult.
“It hurts a lot because everyone wants to play and play a lot obviously,” he admitted. “But then when it comes down to it, you have to think that it’s not always about you. It’s about the team and what’s best for the team.
“Sometimes you have to take one to the chin and keep working hard.”
Frazier said that any dip in playing time or productivity as a sophomore was more of a reflection of CU’s offensive philosophy than anything. Some weeks, the Buffs felt like they had more of an edge in one areas than others. Fittingly, that meant that Frazier’s chances for spot production were more depending on an individual game plan than anything.
How do you prepare to the best of your ability when you may not know what kind of role to expect until your name is called on Saturday?
“You just prepare to play a lot every game and anything less than that your body will hold up,” he said matter of factly. “If you go into every week planning to play every snap, nothing can be harder (preparation) than that.”
That kind of preparation and the offense that he’s preparing to help lead has demanded a new level of conditioning from him. He gives much of the credit to his new position coach.
“I feel very conditioned honestly,’ said Frazier. “Coach Bernardi has been working us and making sure we all get a lot of reps. The offense is fast paced and up tempo so we make sure we always have that game feel with every rep in and rep out.”
Listed at both tight end and H-back with less than one week until the season kicks off, Frazier was also voted as a team captain. He’s taken the role in stride, embracing a slightly larger, more complete perspective, especially when it comes to evaluating his offense.
“We have a lot of talented tight ends and a lot of talented fullbacks. The offense moves really fast and we have a lot of good wide receivers out there,” he said. “I feel like the different weeks, depending on who we play, will show different ways we can attack teams in different areas. I can see my role going back up.”
William Whelan
Continue reading...
Screaming fans, storybook wins…those are moments that inspire athletes to fall deeper in love with competition.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be hard to understand someone being frustrated or discouraged when their preparations, those practices and evenings spent reviewing game film, led to a less than climactic conclusion.
In modern college football, that’s basically describing the fullback position. Colorado’s George Frazier, who has also seen time at defensive end and tight end, hasn’t let his inconsistent usage a year ago discourage him from preparing in full for his junior campaign.
“As long as I’m doing my part and the team is winning I’m very happy,” he says through a smile. It’s the correct answer for any athlete that isn’t interested in starting a controversy. But Frazier admits that there have been weeks in the past where taking such an approach was more difficult.
“It hurts a lot because everyone wants to play and play a lot obviously,” he admitted. “But then when it comes down to it, you have to think that it’s not always about you. It’s about the team and what’s best for the team.
“Sometimes you have to take one to the chin and keep working hard.”
Frazier said that any dip in playing time or productivity as a sophomore was more of a reflection of CU’s offensive philosophy than anything. Some weeks, the Buffs felt like they had more of an edge in one areas than others. Fittingly, that meant that Frazier’s chances for spot production were more depending on an individual game plan than anything.
How do you prepare to the best of your ability when you may not know what kind of role to expect until your name is called on Saturday?
“You just prepare to play a lot every game and anything less than that your body will hold up,” he said matter of factly. “If you go into every week planning to play every snap, nothing can be harder (preparation) than that.”
That kind of preparation and the offense that he’s preparing to help lead has demanded a new level of conditioning from him. He gives much of the credit to his new position coach.
“I feel very conditioned honestly,’ said Frazier. “Coach Bernardi has been working us and making sure we all get a lot of reps. The offense is fast paced and up tempo so we make sure we always have that game feel with every rep in and rep out.”
Listed at both tight end and H-back with less than one week until the season kicks off, Frazier was also voted as a team captain. He’s taken the role in stride, embracing a slightly larger, more complete perspective, especially when it comes to evaluating his offense.
“We have a lot of talented tight ends and a lot of talented fullbacks. The offense moves really fast and we have a lot of good wide receivers out there,” he said. “I feel like the different weeks, depending on who we play, will show different ways we can attack teams in different areas. I can see my role going back up.”
William Whelan
Continue reading...