For Zach Frazier, the past year was special, to say the least.

Frazier was drafted by the Steelers in the second-round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the 51st overall pick.

For someone who played at West Virginia University, and grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia, just over 90 minutes from Pittsburgh, it was the perfect scenario.

And it wasn't just the perfect scenario for Frazier.

It was for the Steelers offense as well.

Frazier quickly became a staple on the Steelers offensive line, taking over as the starting center Week 1 after Nate Herbig suffered a season-ending injury at the end of training camp.

"My mentality was always that I wanted to prepare to be the starter," said Frazier. "That was always my goal. To earn that spot. It was unfortunate that Nate got hurt because he had helped me out a ton and really helped get me through it.

"But my mentality is I always want to play, and I never want to just sit on the bench for a season. I want to be out there helping the team however I can. I feel like that's what I've done even in high school and college. I never wanted to redshirt. I wanted to play.

"So, when the opportunity came, I was ready for that. I was already ready with that mentally."

Frazier started all 15 games he appeared in during the 2024 season, missing two games with an ankle injury. He also started the Steelers Wild Card game.

He was selected to the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie team, the first Steelers offensive lineman to earn the honor since Maurkice Pouncey was selected to it in 2010.

He was voted the winner of the Joe Greene Great Performance Award, presented to the team's top rookie by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America.

Many have sung Frazier's praises throughout the season, but he isn't one who likes to talk about himself and what he accomplished.

"Obviously, I wasn't happy with how we finished as a team," said Frazier. "That was disappointing. Individually, I don't like to talk about myself. I thought I played hard and gave everything I had. I was happy with how I played.

"I feel like my rookie year flew by. I feel like we were just in Latrobe and now the season is over, and I am moving on to Year 2.

"I learned a lot, there was a big jump from college to the NFL, just as far as learning the playbook, getting used to that. For me, it was just getting the playbook down, getting all the calls down. When I first learned it, I had to think everything through. I felt like I was kind of playing slow at first, in OTAs and stuff. If you're out there thinking, then you're not playing fast. And really the key is to play fast. If you do make mistakes, make them at full speed. Once you're playing freely, you don't have to think as much and you're playing fast and everything just kind of falls into place.

"Once I had that down, it was back to playing football again."

Frazier was the point man for the offensive line, making the calls and keeping the unit together.

Not an easy job for a rookie, but this is a guy who doesn't shy away from a challenge.

"There's a lot of responsibility," said Frazier. "Everyone's looking at you to make the calls. There's a lot of work that goes into it throughout the week, a lot of studying and a lot of meetings with the coaches. It's something I take pride in."

Frazier plans on not wasting a lot of time this offseason, jumping into watching film cutups of his plays from the season. He is doing it to grow from the things he did well and improve in areas where he feels it's necessary.

"I'm going to watch all the film again," said Frazier. "I'm going to make cutups of some bad plays and good plays and see what I want to get off my tape and what I want to keep and sustain.

"That's something I've kind of done throughout college. I'm going to keep that going and focus on what I need to fix."