Sam Frayer is growing up.
He spent the past four years as the court jester for Ohio. But he spent last summer playing pickup games with Arizona and Gonzaga, among several other schools. He worked several camps around the country as well.
He’s networking with schools hoping to earn a graduate assistant coaching job after he graduates this spring. It’s the natural progression for a kid in college: he’s becoming a man.
“I know a little better now when to take it serious,” Frayer said. “I’m trying to make a career out of this.”
Frayer walked onto the team because the Bobcats needed size. That was about it.
“He was tall, and he could run without falling over,” Phillips said “So that was the OK.”
Frayer is a strong 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds. He can provide resistance in the post.
But Phillips keeps him around because of his impact in the locker room. The jokes he tells are important. They keep morale high.
His passion for the game is infectious. There’s never a dull moment with Frayer at practice.
“They probably still say I don’t shut up,” Frayer said. “But my freshman year I was really bad.”
During Frayer’s freshman season, Phillips and the walk-ons developed games for their down time at practice. They didn’t need to practice free throws. The Bobcats didn’t always need their bodies when fully healthy.
So a sort of Convo Olympics were born.
They saw who could roll a basketball the furthest around the hallway surrounding the court. They kicked field goals between the railings of section 213 and see who could throw a football the highest into the stands. Frayer stood in the stands and the other walk ons would throw volleyballs at him.
There’s a kind of bowling where they try to roll the ball from one side of the Convo through the other, into the coaches’ office and hit the Administrative assistant’s desk.
“It was just to keep it light,” Phillips said. “It’s a one in a thousand shot, but every once in a while, someone gets one and everybody goes nuts.”
Frayer still loves to keep it light. He’s still the fun-loving guy that his teammates love.
He’s not just that, however. In Tuesday’s practice, Frayer stripped Jason Carter.
Carter didn’t keep the ball high enough, and he was stagnant with it. Frayer corrected him.
That same practice, he explained to Mike Laster how he had traveled on a previous play and demonstrated the correct footwork.
In Saturday’s exhibition game against Capital, Gavin Block took a charge. Neither Teyvion Kirk nor Zach Butler stood up to encourage their teammate.
Frayer set them straight.
“He sacrificed his body for us,” Frayer told them. “You guys gotta stand up for that.”
Frayer learned to lead as a walk-on from former Bobcat Drew Crabtree. Crabtree showed him how tow the line between showing what you know and respecting his place in the hierarchy.
Part of the reason he gets to show what he knows is the freedom Phillips give him. He said he has more freedom than any walk-on's ever had.
It’s what he respects about Phillips the most: the player relationships.
“He doesn’t put a lot of stress on us mentally or physically,” Frayer said. “He’s probably the most relaxed coach in the country. It’s pretty sweet.”
Frayer and Phillips are kindred spirits that way. They both like to keep it light.
Frayer subscribes to the Theo Epstein theory: If you make your players happy, they’ll play better.
There’s a graduate assistant opening on the Ohio coaching staff next season. But Frayer learned everything he could from Phillips.
He wants to expand his portfolio.
“I’ve only learned from one person for four years,” Frayer said. “I gotta learn a lot more.”
