One play still sticks with Athens. Georgia was driving, and Alabama was on the other sideline, and the crowd at Sanford Stadium was simply alive. Nate Frazier took the handoff in the red zone, thinking end zone, thinking this is my moment. Instead, Frazier fumbled the ball inside the Bulldogs’ red zone. By the end of the night, the Tide walked out with a 24-21 win, while Frazier walked out knowing something bigger than a game had just changed.
At the time, this loss felt crushing. Frazier had been on a roll going into that matchup, fresh off three games where he had piled up 189 rushing yards. Moreover, with Gunner Stockton and Zachariah Branch leading the offense, the confidence was high. Alabama, though, had other plans, and that fumble showed Frazier a version of himself that he hadn’t fully confronted yet.
“I was feeling like I’m on top of the world. Nothing could stop me. And it humbled you,” Frazier said on I Am Athlete’s February 4 podcast. “And then when that happened, it humbled me, bro. I started doing things differently. I’m talking about being locked into a different level cuz it was a point… It just turned a switch on for me…