ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When Kyle Whittingham had stated at Big Ten media days that the Michigan football team was weaker than expected when he took over, around the same time, Wolverines junior left tackle Blake Frazier showed off his progress in the weight room.
While it wasn't a complete makeover, you could see he had made pretty big gains, looking much stronger, especially in his lower body. With that, it's not just Frazier -- the whole team is posting personal bests, and the team is much more ready to take on the season than it appears to have been in the past two years.
On Wednesday, Frazier spoke on how strength and conditioning coach Doug Elisaia has prepared him to be more capable, noting that size was of utmost importance for a player like
him.
"He's been unbelievable," Frazier said. "I mean, you guys have seen it through the past six months; like everybody has gotten bigger, stronger, strength numbers have been off the charts. For me personally, he's helped me to get bigger. Obviously last year I think I was not as big as I needed to be to compete the way I wanted to, and so when they came in they targeted me as a guy that needed to get bigger, and that's what they did with me. He's been unbelievable and super pumped to keep working with him."
Frazier notes that it's an age in which offensive linemen are all expected to be over 300 pounds, and he's finally there after having arrived somewhere in the mid-200s. But at 302 pounds now, he believes that he's still able to move, and that should allow him to do more than simply withstand a bull rush.
"I think my agility, athleticism is what I lean on in times like that," Frazier said. "I'm not a guy that's gonna get overpowered anymore, but at the same time, using that athleticism to kind of catch guys off guard is something that I focused on working on this season."
Fans will get a chance to see Frazier in action on Saturday, when Michigan football hosts Western Michigan for the night game season opener.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Blake Frazier details major transformation ahead of Michigan season
