For Zach Frazier, the NFL Draft couldn't have worked out any better.
The second-round pick, who was a staple at center at West Virginia, simply needed to drive 90 minutes up I-79 from his home in Fairmont, West Virginia to Pittsburgh to meet with the team after the draft, for rookie minicamp and OTAs.
With Frazier's love of having his family be able to see all his games, the whole scenario worked out perfectly.
"I couldn't have picked a better situation," said Frazier. "My family is just down the road and I've always been close to my family. When I played at West Virginia, it was just 30 minutes up the road. Now it's just an hour and 30 minutes up the road to Pittsburgh. I've always been close to my family and now they're going to get to stay close to me.
"My family always came to my games. I always had a ton of people at all the West Virginia games. I have a huge family. I know a lot of people who have already started looking to get Steelers tickets. They're excited for it.
"It means everything. It makes you work that much harder. Makes you want to make them proud."
Making them proud is not a problem. His family is still on Cloud 9 after his selection, so much so that 16 of them made the trip to Pittsburgh for the Steelers Draft Party at Acrisure Stadium the day after he was selected, including his parents, Heather and Ray Frazier, and his wife, Stephanie Frazier.
"Oh, my goodness. It really is a dream come true because we are a very close-knit family," said Heather Frazier. "Just be able to get in the car and go see him and be a part of all this, be a part of his life like this is a dream come true. Only God could have done this.
"We were watching the draft, and the Steelers were seven picks away, and my husband and I looked at each other. We stood up in reverence to God and locked hands. We just said let's stand here and have faith.
"The phone rang, and it was a few picks before the Steelers were on the clock. But we were going to be happy wherever he was going to be. We all took off up the stairs and we missed the part where he said, 'Hi, Coach (Mike) Tomlin.' His wife looked at us and told us who it was, and we lost it."
The entire household reacted in a similar fashion, which included a large number of aunts, uncles, cousins and other friends and family.
Among those were Heather Frazier's brother, Jeff Courtney, along with his wife and kids. They are among the biggest fans of the newest Steelers center, and wanted to be there for his big night, as well as the draft party.
They were by his side, even if they couldn't hear the cheers that were going on around them when Frazier was selected, as the family of four is deaf. But it's not something that gets in the way of them enjoying all of the excitement.
Frazier made sure when he was at West Virginia that the Courtney family could enjoy all the interviews the school conducted with him through the University's closed captioning option. He also started learning sign language when he was young, something he still continues to work on today.
"I can finger spell anything," said Frazier. "My mom taught me from a young age how to pick up some signs and learn it. And I know a good bit of signs just from talking to them. Every time they visit, I try to learn as much as I can. I know a good bit. If they lived up here, I would be a lot better.
"That's my aunt and uncle and cousins and I want to be able to communicate with them. It's important to me. They can't hear. It's not their fault. I just want to do everything that I can so I can understand and communicate well with them so they're not missing out on anything. It's not something I really think about. They're family.
"I add new signs every time they are here. If I spell something, I'll ask for the sign and then try to try to memorize it. I just want to do my best at it.
"It's family, and family means everything."
