Johnny Frasier is one of NC State’s biggest football recruits in recent memory.  He was the 53rd overall player in the 2015 recruiting class according to Scout, and the #2 running back in the nation according to 247Sports.  Frasier is coming off a statistically insane Senior year, in which he rushed for 2,266 yards and 33 touchdowns.  If you do the math, he is accustomed to gaining a first down every time he touches the ball, because he averaged 10.6 yards per carry last year.

Going from high school glory to a college football fall camp can be quite humbling.  At Media Day Frasier said that the first day of practice was a struggle, and there is a distinct difference between college speed and high school speed.  Senior Shadrach Thornton and Junior Matt Dayes have helped bring the young back up to speed, and Frasier’s thankful.

“I’m always asking them questions.  They are always helping me and telling me what I did wrong, and it’s actually helped me out, because that first day was a struggle.  Now it’s just like I’m one of the team,” said Frasier. “It was difficult, because there is a difference between college speed and high school speed, but after the first day you really get used to it.”

Fans smother Frasier on Twitter (@JohnnyOsoFast) with praise and expectations all the time.  There is a lot of pressure that is put on a player with recruiting stars beside his name.  Frasier puts pressure on himself as well, but he’s trying to keep it in balance.

“You have a lot of fans that tweet at you and tell you that you’re going to do great, but I try not to pay attention to it,” said Frasier. “You never know what’s going to happen.  I might play, and I might not.  It just lets me know that I need to prepare even harder, whether I’m in that spotlight or not.”

The spotlight that Frasier is referring to, is whether or not he will experience this season with a redshirt on, or off.  At this point he doesn’t know whether he’ll redshirt or not, and neither does Coach Doeren.

“Eventually we’ll have those conversations. We’ll wait until we get through a couple of scrimmages before we tell anyone they’re redshirting,” said Doeren. “It’s a process. Sometimes you have injuries and it speeds up the process. Sometimes you’re better than the guys that are there when you get recruited in, and that speeds it up. Sometimes you need to develop. I don’t know where we are with those guys yet.”

Frasier told us that he believes that the NC State coaches are preparing him to have a very successful career here, but he’s a football player, and football players want to play football.

“I have no clue.  That’s up to Coach Doeren.  Whatever happens, happens,” said Frasier. “I’m going to be prepared for bad or good.  Just like any freshman, I want to play, and I want to do well, and I’m trying to do that the best I can.  I want to play.”

Senior Highlights