BYU Football: Frazier's perseverance paying off

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Provo » When BYU lines up against Washington in the season opener on Sept. 4, there's a possibility that one of the Cougars' starting outside linebackers will be a guy who barely got off the bench in high school, was cut by former coach Gary Crowton prior to leaving on a church mission, and is trying to learn his third position in two years.

"Kind of a crazy story, isn't it?" Jameson Frazier wonders aloud. "Sometimes, I wonder how it all happened, too."

A junior, Frazier has been with the first-string defense at strongside linebacker throughout fall camp because the projected starter, Jordan Pendleton, has been taking time off from contact drills to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. However, Frazier is also getting some reps at weakside linebacker just in case he is needed there. Projected starting weakside linebacker Jordan Atkinson has missed a lot of camp to catch up academically, and to rest a sore shoulder.

Freshman Kyle Van Noy is also in the hunt to be the weakside starter, and Pendleton saw his first action of camp on Monday.

But Frazier is going to play as much as anybody, it appears, even if he doesn't start.

"I have been working my butt off, trying to learn the defense, and I think I have done well at that and am improving. So I feel good. I feel comfortable with where I am at on this team," Frazier said.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall said after Saturday's scrimmage that Frazier has played himself into consideration.

"I really like Jameson Frazier. He has had an outstanding camp," Mendenhall said. "We could play with him today. I am very comfortable with him at the Sam [strongside] position."

It is the next step of a long journey for Frazier, the son of former BYU two-sport athlete Danny Frazier, a football letter winner in 1977 and a basketball letter winner in 1979.

Except that the younger Frazier didn't excel in high school at football or basketball, playing as a backup in both sports. Rather, he was a track star, earning all-state honors in that sport.

Naturally, he tried walking on to the BYU football team out of high school, but was promptly told he was too small (175 pounds) and not good enough.

After a church mission to Montreal, Frazier tried again.

"It's pretty remarkable, what he's done," said inside linebacker Brandon Ogletree. "Learning a new position would be hard for a lot of people, but Jameson has the right attitude for it, and he's so athletic, he can adapt to anything."

Mendenhall had replaced Crowton when Frazier returned, and had the reputation of looking at walk-ons more favorably. Besides, Frazier had added a few pounds.

So he started out as a safety, then moved to receiver. Before spring ball, he made the move to outside linebacker, and had a half-dozen or so interceptions to catch the eye of the coaches. Between then and fall camp, he added 20 more pounds, and is now listed at 6-foot-2, 225.

"I just ate a lot, and worked out a lot," he said. "And my wife [Tina] takes care of me real well. I owe a lot to her."

Teammates such as Ogletree and others say Frazier's story provides inspiration for the whole team. Frazier calls himself a "late-bloomer" who doesn't like to take no for an answer.

"It has been very rewarding," he said. "It has pushed me to my boundaries and I have really had to stretch myself and get out of my comfort zone and learn new things, try new things and just fly around and hit people, and do whatever I needed to do to get on the field."

Another former walk-on who is now a key defensive starter, Andrew Rich, said Frazier's speed and determination make the defense better.

"We still have some guys we have to get healthy, so I don't know how that is all going to shake out. But the guys that are playing right now are doing a good job," Rich said. "They just make us that much deeper and that much better. For a unit, we still have a long ways to go, but we've made good progress."