Former Middletown High School football coach Jason Krause didn’t exactly think he was looking at an impact player when Rashad Frazier moved into the district as a senior in 2009, showed up for preseason practice and announced he wanted to give the sport another try.

But the skeptical Krause was intrigued by Frazier’s 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame and couldn’t believe his luck when he put the newcomer in pads and watched him overpower the competition.

“His football knowledge wasn’t great. He literally hadn’t played football since third grade. But athletically, the first day we put him down in a stance, he naturally just lined up properly,” said Krause, now the coach at Fairfield. “He possessed aggressiveness and athleticism. Some kids just have it, and he had it.”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and you get move-ins, and nine times out of 10 those move-ins aren’t going to help you much. But since then, I make the joke, ‘I hope we get a move-in like Rashad Frazier this year.’ But it doesn’t happen. He’s a special talent.”

Frazier has become just as much of a surprise to his new coaches and teammates at Ohio State since joining the squad as a walk-on defensive end this summer.

In just one year with the Middies, he earned scholarship offers from several big-time programs and visited Michigan State, Wisconsin and West Virginia before signing with Purdue.

But he had lived in Middletown as a youngster and remained a Buckeye fan even after moving to Maine with his mother. Following a redshirt year with the Boilermakers and then not getting off the bench the next season, he decided to transfer to OSU.

“I always wanted to come here and be a Buckeye,” said Frazier, who can practice with the team but not play in games for one year under NCAA rules. “I was able to walk on, and now have a chance to earn a scholarship. I’m grateful they gave me the opportunity to be here, and I’m going to make the most of it.

“But I’m not going to sit back and be happy with (just being on the team). I’m going to be competing for a starting job.”

Asked what he does best, Frazier said: “My ‘get off’ and coming off the edge. I have to work on some things, obviously. I only played one year. I have to keep learning and getting better.”

Frazier, who has bulked up to 270 pounds, said he’s paying his own way with the help of some need-based financial aid, and Krause isn’t surprised his protégé would give up a full ride to wear the Scarlet and Gray.

“As we went through the recruiting process, he’d say, ‘Coach, have you heard from the Buckeyes? Have you heard from the Buckeyes?’ You’ve got Michigan State, you’ve got Purdue, you’ve got West Virginia, you’ve got Indiana — you’ve got major-college football. But he just always kept asking, ‘What about Ohio State?’” Krause said.

“He called me periodically (from Purdue) and said, ‘Coach, I don’t know if this is the place for me.’ He always had that ‘wanting to be a Buckeye’ thing in his heart.”

Frazier attended George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill, Maine, playing basketball, baseball and soccer. But the school didn’t offer football, which is why he moved back to Middletown at the urging of his father.

Frazier ended up being rated as the 13th-best recruit in Ohio by one scouting service and helped Middletown to its first playoff berth in 19 years.

“I love him,” OSU coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s kind of raw, but he’s got a big body. Plus, he’s a nice kid.”

Starting nose tackle Garrett Goebel, a team captain, believes Frazier has a future with the Buckeyes.

“He’s smart. He picks things up quick,” Goebel said. “He’s got a great motor, and he’s relentless. He never gives up on a play.”

Krause believes Frazier, who has three years of eligibility left, will evolve into an NFL prospect once he gains experience.

“He has to catch up to the game a little bit. But athletically, I think he’s a Sunday afternoon guy, no doubt about it,” he said.