It’s not tough to pick out Ralph Frias from the crop of Arizona State offensive linemen during individual drills. He’s the guy with a coach behind him at nearly all times ready to put a towel around his back or bands around his wrist.
Oh, and he’s 6-foot-6 and weighs 340 pounds.
But, let’s get back to that coach. Unlike a lot of young offensive linemen who arrive on campus needing to add weight, Frias checks out in that area, built like the prototypical first guy off the bus.
But, now just heading into his redshirt freshman season, fundamentals and the true learning of the game have become Frias’ main priorities. The towel wrapped around his back forces him to keep his elbows from moving backwards. The band around his wrists keep his hands together.
“He’s got some things that are out of whack a little bit and we are trying to find different ways to change his fundamentals and his practice habits,” ASU offensive line coach Dave Christensen said.
It’s a level of fundamental teaching that Frias wasn’t able to afford as a scout-team player for the entirety of last season.
“Going on scout team, it was kind of like, ‘You’re on your own,” Frias said. “But now I’m actually being coached, like on my stance. The things I knew where to stay square and don’t reach but when you come into (the two-deep) it’s kind of just different techniques and stuff.”
Frias’ scout-team play was more for the development of the ASU defense, rather than himself. Nonetheless, towering over the ASU defensive linemen, the Safford, Arizona native won the McBurney Offensive Scout Team MVP at the end of last season.
“Going against our defense now, if you don’t know what’s going on and have a great understanding of defensive structure you have no shot against this defense, none, as a young experienced offensive lineman,” offensive lineman Rob Likens said. “Now does it impede their development a little bit, yeah probably because they don’t get used to base-blocking a five-technique, double-teaming a three-technique and it’s just all over the place.
“It’ll help them maybe later down the road.”
That’s the goal for Frias, ASU’s heaviest player. But right now his challenges lie in the little things. Frias gets the same remarks when people first see him, it’s the mouth wide-open gasps of, “Holy crap.” that accompany him all over.
The gasps have followed him across every level, allowing him to dominate at each. Out of high school, Frias, a three-star prospect, was the 13th-highest rated recruit in Arizona. Fundamentals aren’t the most important thing when you’re outweighing the defensive linemen you’re going against by 75 pounds.
But the talent gap is cut in college. He’s beginning to notice some of the obstacles that his size brings to the position. Fellow Arizona State offensive lineman Roy Hemsley, who transferred to Tempe from USC, knows what Frias is going through, standing at 6-foot-6, 335-pounds himself.
“I was in a similar position early on at USC,” Hemsley said. “It’s a large learning curve. Playing offensive line, especially going from high school to college, being on scout team, not necessarily getting the coaching that you need in your first year and then it all coming full circle.
“It’s difficult. I definitely commend him for continuing to work day in and day out.”
Christensen didn’t get the chance to work with Frias much last season because the freshman was stuck on scout team; but he’s been able to give him more of a look in the spring.
His critiques include trying to get a large guy like Frias to stay low and come off blocks efficiently.
“Just for a big guy … that’s pretty difficult,” Frias said. “I’m still learning how to use my size and apply it. It’s honestly (a lot harder than people think) because it takes a lot of technique. I’m just built different so I’ve got to do different things.”
Frias is still firmly sitting with the second-teamers on the depth chart and may not see the field this year. No worries, that’s normal for an offensive lineman. But his presence in Tempe, like Hemsley’s is something ASU needs.
Herm Edwards recalls heading out to the Sun Devil Stadium field for game-day warmups and looking over to ASU’s opponents while thinking, in a few years, we’re going to look like that. Frias is likely a piece to that puzzle.
Make no mistakes about it, though, just because he has the size doesn’t mean coaches are penciling him as the left or right tackle of the future.
“I’m not ready to build those statues yet,” Christensen said. “He’s a big, young prospect that has a long way to go and is working hard daily. Is he ready to be the left tackle? Not at this point.”
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