NC State official sets bar high for DT Frazier

Having only been to N.C. State once before his official visit this past weekend, three-star Buford, Ga. defensive tackle Ben Frazier went into his trip with hopes that the Wolfpack would impress.

After returning home on Sunday, Frazier said the trip not only met his expectations, but exceeded them.

"The trip was great," The 6-foot-2, 320-pound prospect said. "N.C. State is a really live place. I really enjoyed talking with the coaches and the players. Everybody is pretty much like a family there and they treated me like I was a member of the family."

During his recruitment, Frazier has been open with coaches about his desire to go to a school where he could see early playing time. While in Raleigh he sat down with defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen and head coach Dave Doeren and got the answers he was looking for.

"They were pretty much saying that if I come that they want to use me right away," Frazier said. "They want me to go up and learn the system and get a nice start over the summer hopefully be able to get into the lineup. They pretty much were saying if I came and did what I needed to do in terms of working out and learning the plays that I could be in the lineup."

Frazier also said he's looking for stability in a coaching staff and Doeren gave him a personal assurance that he was there for the long haul.

"I asked Coach Doeren if he would be there and if Coach Nielsen would be there to develop me or if they would be leaving anytime soon," Frazier said. "He said they're in it for the long haul. They want to turn the program around and win championships and that gave me confidence that if I were to go there that they would be there with me and that gave me a lot of confidence going forward."

Frazier made the trip to North Carolina by car with his mother and father and said that the journey was far, but not too far.

The opinion of both his parents will come into play when it comes time for a decision and after his first official Frazier said the bar has been set high.

"They both loved it a lot but my mom really loved it," Frazier said. "She said plenty of times that N.C. State set the bar high and other schools would have to come a lot harder to match them."

Frazier's next official visit is set for the weekend of Sept. 25-27, when he will visit Florida for the Gators game against Tennessee. After that he said he will visit LSU, Miami and USC, but has yet to pick dates.

As far as a decision, Frazier said he wants to wait until he's taken all his visits before he makes a decision.

"You don't want to get ahead of yourself or anything," Frazier said. "I want to take all my visits so I can be confident in a decision so I didn't want to jump to gun."