Central Michigan University

BERG PLEASANT, Mich.Former Chippewa football player and six-year NFL veteran Kavon Frazier spoke with the 2024 Central Michigan Football team about leadership, process, life and what it takes to reach the next level.

Frazier spoke to the team as part of Central Michigan's new Football Speaker Series, in which former players and coaches return to Mount Pleasant to talk about topics relevant to the CMU football team. Frazier is the second speaker after CMU Hall of Fame coaches Herb Deromedi and Roy Kramer.

Frazier, a Grand Rapids native who played safety at CMU from 2012 to 2015, said his time at Central Michigan set him and his family apart for life. He met his wife, a former Chippewas cheerleader, in Mount Pleasant. They now have three children, with one on the way.

After completing his six-year NFL career in 2022, Frazier has found stability and consistency in his life. He founded a thriving company, Built4It, which includes three training facilities in the Dallas area. He is CEO of his own company and has various other business interests. He is taking online CMU courses and working on a master's degree in business administration.

He credits Central Michigan for helping get him where he is today.

He achieved all this from humble beginnings, as the son of a single-parent family with very limited resources. His mother raised him and he overcame adversity with an unwavering belief in himself that he could achieve all his goals. He took advantage of the academic assistance available to him at CMU while focusing on his ultimate goal: the ability to provide financial stability for his family.

His advice and story resonated with the team.

“I was in your shoes,” Frazier told the CMU student-athletes. “I've been through the exact same things that you're going through. I want you all to really see that part. No matter what happens, there will always be challenges, both ups and downs. You have to work through things and make every decision you make. you can do it or not. Every decision I made was to accomplish my mission. I knew what I was going to do and where I was going to be one step forward towards your goal.

“You deserve respect. These are things I have implemented in my life to help me get where I am today. I am 29 years old. I have four children, a beautiful family, a beautiful home. I lack nothing and I'm achieving everything I wanted to achieve at the age of 29. That's all because I implemented these things and I knew I had a vision of where I wanted to go.

“This is what football can offer you. You have to do it right. You have to constantly and consistently make the right decisions and embrace the process.”

Frazier focused on what it takes to be a leader and how to develop leadership skills. He said four key components make a leader: vision, dedication, passion and endurance.

“Everything starts with vision,” he said, “It's a picture in your mind where you can see exactly what's going to happen. You have to be intentional about trying to see where your future lies. There are a lot of distractions. They're distractions from where you want to go and you need to spend time away from all distractions, taking time to sit in peace and quiet to see the vision. Everything starts with a vision. Who do you listen to? Every decision in your life You can't either Every decision I made was to achieve this vision of making the NFL.”

Frazier then spoke about the importance of dedication and sacrifice.

“As a business leader, you must be committed to the company and build the company. You must be accountable for yourself; you must be sincere, detail-oriented, have self-control and be courageous. Don't try to be someone else. The game of football can make you become someone else. are.

Passion was also an area Frazier used in pursuing his dreams, but when he entered the NFL, he found that other players were more passionate about the game than he was.

“I wanted to play for financial stability,” he said. “There was no way I was going to leave my mother and my sister. When I got into the league, I was amazed at how many players really loved the game. I wasn't into it that much. I was playing for financial stability. CMU was pursuing my goals, I was super passionate, probably the most passionate person to ever play on this field. My passion changed when I achieved my goals.

He talked about overcoming obstacles through endurance at Central Michigan.

“During my sophomore year, I had three interceptions in the first two games and started walking around like I was someone special,” Frazier said. “Then I started doing too much, lost focus and ended up missing tackles. The coaches benched me towards the end of my sophomore season. I didn't start my junior year. I played well, didn't have nearly as many tackles At one point I thought my vision was over, I thought my dreams were over. But instead of running from them, I stayed and took on the challenges that weren't there at the time to stay at their school. , I could have transferred, but then I would have had to sit out a year, but my mother said, “No, we won't finish what we start.”

“As soon as I made that decision, the coaching staff was fired. So now we have a new coach, Coach (John) Bonamego. Amazingly, it took me a year to get everything together during my senior season. I spent a year in Central Michigan seated to build myself up for life. You all have a chance. Things will happen on the field that are negative or don't work out the way you want them to: Don't run away from them. Leaders have endurance, they see the trials and trials as joy. It may hurt, but you can fight through it.

“You're always going to go through certain things, in college, in the NFL and in life. Real leaders have staying power. When I went through those things, it didn't surprise me, I run through it. I see it because it builds my character and increases my endurance.”

Frazier also talked about the business side of the NFL and then answered questions from the Chippewas. He talked about his last year in football, when he was cut and spent 10 weeks out of the league until the Las Vegas Raiders picked him up. He said it was one of the hardest times in his life, but he needed that time because it prepared him for what came next.

Frazier also offered advice on what he calls FAM: financial advisors, agents and mentors.

“It's important to build a good FAM,” Frazier said. “In business or in life, it's not about how much money you can make, it's about how much money you can keep. You have to get into the mindset of keeping your money. For an agent, you have to find someone who is in it for your interests. Then having a mentor is crucial. Find someone who can help you with expertise in what you are looking for.”

He also advised the current crop of Chippewas on the NFL draft, the NFL combine, training and selecting an agent.

Central Michigan was Frazier's only scholarship offer coming out of Grand Rapids Christian High School.

As a freshman safety, he played in 13 games and recorded 36 tackles and an interception. He played in 12 games as a sophomore and finished with 67 tackles, three interceptions and five pass breakups. As a junior, he made 58 tackles (34 solo). As a senior, he became the starter at strong safety, led the team in tackles with 108 (74 solo), recorded 4.5 tackles for loss, intercepted one pass and blocked a punt.

He totaled 269 tackles (162 solo) in his CMU career. He made five tackles for loss, intercepted five passes with one returned for a touchdown, forced three fumbles and recovered three fumbles. He earned All-Mid-American Conference Second Team honors, which put him on the radar of NFL teams.

After graduating from CMU in 2016 with a cumulative grade point average of 3.00+, Frazier was selected in the sixth round by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL draft (pick No. 212). He worked his way into a stable roster spot with the Cowboys, which had an impact on special teams. In total, Frazier played a total of six years for the Dallas Cowboys (2016-19), Miami Dolphins (2020), Cincinnati Bengals (2021) and Las Vegas Raiders (2021). On July 29, 2022, Frazier announced his retirement from professional football.

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