A former Boise State star was lost without football. Now a coach, he has found dream job
Former Boise State pass rusher Jabril Frazier admits he was lost when his playing career ended after a brief stint with the New York Jets in 2019.
A knee injury derailed his shot in the NFL, forcing the two-time All-Mountain West pick to move back in with his parents. He tried moving on with career choices and got a job as a security guard at one of the halfway houses his father ran in Los Angeles.
He couldn’t stay away from football for long, though. Frazier started training outside linebackers in Southern California, and before he knew it, former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin offered him a position as a graduate assistant in 2020.
After three years of the long hours and little pay that come with being a graduate assistant, Frazier is now in charge of his own position. The 26-year-old was promoted to full-time edge coach in December, replacing Kelly Poppinga, who took a job at his alma mater, BYU.
Frazier said he almost broke down when head coach Andy Avalos told him the news.
“Going through what I did as a player made me into who I am today,” Frazier said. “This place has done a lot for me, and it’s a blessing to be able to give back.”
Frazier called Avalos and Boise State defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson his mentors, saying they’ve had more of an impact on his playing and coaching careers than anyone.
Avalos, who was hired as Harsin’s replacement in January 2021, was coaching the Broncos’ linebackers when Frazier joined the team as a gray shirt in 2014.
He couldn’t practice or even lift weights at the same time as his teammates during his first year on campus because he didn’t qualify academically, but that didn’t stop Frazier from making an impression.
“Even when he wasn’t allowed to be around the team, I’d see him on campus or in the weight room and he was always working,” Avalos told the Statesman. “There are some guys who are just hungry and you can tell they aren’t going to let anything stop them. Jabril is one of those guys, and that’s part of what’s going to make him a great coach.”
Frazier said he and Danielson butted heads when the Broncos’ energetic defensive coordinator showed up as a graduate assistant in 2017, but Frazier eventually came to view him as a father figure.
“He really helped me develop as a coach and a man, and he’s always been there for me,” said Frazier, adding that it was Danielson he called for advice when he was considering making a career out of coaching. “He cares about you as a person first and a football player second.”
Former Boise State defensive coordinator Marcel Yates was Frazier’s primary recruiter when he joined the Broncos after graduating from Verbum Dei High School in California. He was one of the top 30 recruits in the state, according to 247Sports, and he thought he was going to play defensive end for the Broncos.
He’d never heard of a STUD, which is what the Broncos used to call their edge rushers, and he’d never dropped back to defend a pass before 2016. That didn’t stop him from being named first-team All-Mountain West as a senior, and finishing his college career with 18 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss.
Frazier’s name is often mentioned in the same breath as the best pass rushers in Boise State history, such as Dallas Cowboys star DeMarcus Lawrence and Curtis Weaver, who recently signed a futures contract with the Minnesota Vikings.
Frazier’s reputation resonates with the players, said edge rusher Demitri Washington, a sixth-year senior who was teammates with his new position coach in 2018. And he made such an impression that many Broncos, including defensive tackle Scott Matlock and safety JL Skinner, went to Twitter in December to stump for Frazier to get the job after Poppinga moved on.
“I’ve seen him lead, I’ve seen how he attacks every day and how he was willing to put his body on the line for this place,” Washington said. “Jabril loves this place, and because of how much he cares, he understands the standard that needs to be set.”
