CONWAY — Derrick Frasier has had a hectic week.

A major in Computer Science at Coastal Carolina University, his GPA has dipped from the 3.9 range down to just over a 3.4 over the past month or two, and that’s just not acceptable. So, with a few programs due this week, Frasier buckled down and focused more on his studies.

Social life? The former Orangeburg-Wilkinson football star laughed a little at the mention of such a thing. Derrick Frasier Sr. and Sharon Frasier didn’t send their son to school to major in football.

“My parents said, ‘You are not going to a school to go play football. You are going to school to get an education’,” Frasier said Thursday. “Being a Computer Science major, you stay up late hours putting in hard work, but you know in the end it will all be worth it.

“You have little time for your personal life,” he added. “Very rarely can you go out and have fun. Mostly, you are in your books, studying for the next week, doing programs that have to be done. It’s very tough. I will tell you that.”

Tough, but not impossible, and while the Frasiers didn’t want their son to “major in football,” he is doing a fine job starting at linebacker for the Chanticleers. Named to the Big South Conference All-Academic team last season, the junior is second on the team in tackles with 35. He also has a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery, and this week he has juggled the extra academic load with long hours of watching film of the Clemson Tigers, whom Frasier’s Chanticleers will play today in Clemson at 1:30. If getting that GPA back up to snuff wasn’t stressful enough, one would figure watching Jacoby Ford and C.J. Spiller’s blazing speed on film all week might be.

“They just have tremendous amounts of speed,” Frasier said. “They are really fast. They have some great backups as well, awesome quarterbacks, great depth. Hopefully, we can contain them, do what we are supposed to do on defense and have a good night.”

It’s been a tough season for Coastal Carolina (3-4), but Frasier said the team is focused on turning their fortunes around.

“I’m not satisfied with where we are right now,” he said. “I want us to come back and finish the season strong. I look forward to us playing these games with pride, not backing down from anyone, finishing out these last four games with a win and carrying that over to next season.”

A win against Clemson is not likely. In fact, in a visit to the Orangeburg Touchdown Club earlier this year, Coastal head coach David Bennett likened a victory over the Tigers to “the good Lord parting the Red Sea.” It would take, at least, according to Bennett, “a small miracle.” But, miracles do happen, and while Frasier repeated several times that the Chanticleers prepared for Clemson just like any other game, he admitted the adrenaline will be flowing when he takes the field in Clemson today.

“This is a great game to prove yourself,” he said. “With this defense here, I tell them you have to treat everybody the same and go out there with that mentality. We have to think we are going to dominate everyone we play. If we read our keys, get the play calls in ... once we do that, we can’t be stopped. Hopefully, once we do that every week, we will be a good team. We almost connected a few times. We haven’t had a full game of mistake-free football, but hopefully we can do that and have a great game against the team we are getting ready to play Saturday.”

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553.

 

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