First, he won over the hearts of Wellington High School fans by dominating the basketball scene in his home state of Florida to the tune of 27.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in route to a 9A state semifinals appearance and Player of the Year award. Next, he won over the hearts of Illinois basketball fans by reaffirming his commitment to the Illini in a tweet that began with “#Loyalty.”
Now, he may even be winning over a few national experts, especially after taking home Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors in December and cementing himself as an All-Freshman Big Ten favorite.
It’s safe to say Trent Frazier has accomplished more than most 19 year-olds. The 6-foot-1 point guard has increased his scoring from 9.2 to 11.7 PPG since the Missouri contest on December 23 and has morphed into a reliable scorer who Brad Underwood has desperately and extensively searched for. Success and accolades have come to Frazier in bunches recently, but according to his father, Rodnell, this is nothing new for Trent.
“I actually started training him when he was five years old,” said Rodnell, who coached Trent through high school. “Once I put a ball in his hand he ain’t ever put it down.” Rodnell attributes Trent’s success to hard work and his unending, infectious love for the game. “When he was like 12 or 13 I had him playing with me because I played four years of college and all the big boys.”
Trent’s work with his father early in his basketball career was also where his increasingly-iconic dance moves were developed. “Every time he scored he just started with all these new dance techniques.”
The infectious dancing wasn’t the only sign of Trent’s passion for basketball, however. Rodnell could tell before high school that Trent was going to be special, especially after he won back-to-back-to-back middle school championships while averaging an absurd 40 points per game. “I knew. I knew. A lot of my friends, the coaches, they were telling me, keep doing what you’re doing you got something very special.”
What Rodnell was doing was training Trent. Hard. And Trent responded. Opposing coaches would criticize Trent by saying he could only drive with one hand. “So I started tying back his hands” Rodnell explained, “The hardest thing I had to do was keep him away from certain people and certain crowds, so I just kept him in the gym.”
The result was an energetic, passionate point guard with a knack for scoring, something Rodnell emphasized. “I always told him you need to score to win, you can do other things to help your team win, but he stuck with it.”
While Trent was blossoming into an elite two-sport athlete (he was a quarterback, receiver and punter in youth football), colleges began taking notice of the spark plug guard. Following his commitment to John Groce in August 2016, there was panic within Illini Nation that Trent could look for greener pastures following the follicly impaired coach’s dismissal. Although Rodnell admits Trent had 32 other offers he could have chosen from, it’s his humble-yet-driven personality and mindset that kept Trent a Fighting Illini. “He loved the fan base, he loved the people, he didn’t want to pack up and leave like everybody said. He said ‘Dad, I’m gonna stay here, we’re gonna figure it out, and we’re gonna start winning.’
What’s next for Trent? The sky is the limit in his father’s eyes. “He’s a winner, he’s been winning his whole life.” Like Trent, Illini basketball also has limitless potential, mainly because of Brad Underwood, whom Rodnell has been in contact with since Underwood began recruiting Trent as a 10th grader back at Stephen F. Austin. “At the end of the day, these are young men if they stick to what these coaches are teaching them, they’re gonna be okay.”
Next: 5 takeaways from the Illini win over Rutgers
Trent once hit two critical free throws to win a Florida 9A state game. In a few years, we may see the same situation, only the stakes being an NCAA tournament berth.