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Fearless.

Zah Frazier lived by that word last year during his final collegiate season at UTSA, where he secured First-Team All-American Athletic Conference honors. His career-high six interceptions in 2024 set Roadrunners single-season and AAC records.

Being fearless, a motto instilled in Frazier by one of his assistant coaches at UTSA, also led the Georgia native to being selected No. 169 overall by the Bears Saturday.

"That's going to come with me everywhere I go, just being fearless," Frazier told reporters via Zoom. "Don't worry about the next play, just always worry about the play that's in front of you. Handle that first and then focus on the next play when it comes. But when that ball's in the air, just be fearless, and that's just something that I ingrained [in myself], so that's all I think about, fearless, and I just played to that [last season]."

Whether the word fearless was consciously on his mind or not, Frazier has really lived his entire football career by that motto. His path the NFL is unconventional, having started his career at Southern Illinois (2019), then transitioning to the JUCO level at Coffeyville Community College (2020-21) before going back to Division I at UTSA (2022-24).

But that path also required Frazier to be adaptable, handle adversity and trust himself — traits that the Bears noticed on his Top 30 visit to Halas Hall.

"This kid was unbelievable," Bears director of player personnel Trey Koziol said. "Really fun. You guys will get to see it when you get to know him, but outgoing, just really self-aware, a mature kid. Obviously, he had to kind of take the long route to the NFL, going from Southern Illinois to Coffeyville to UTSA and now here. Has a lot of life experience under his belt but we absolutely loved having him in the building.

"He's a really great human being."

Frazier remembers that Top 30 visit well. It was the first of his pre-draft process and the Bears' family atmosphere reminded him of that at UTSA, which helped him feel right at home.

"It was great," Frazier added. "From the top down, it was great. Everybody showed genuine love. It was family oriented. It's just like UTSA how it is, family tradition. That's something I want to be a part of and that's somewhere I know I can succeed, in a program that can help me and I can help them as well."

Through his three seasons at UTSA, Frazier appeared in 29 games with 10 starts, totaling 34 tackles, 15 passes defensed, 10 pass breakups and six interceptions, all of which came in 2024.

"I think he has really good instincts and he's got really good ball skills, so there is a couple plays on there where he turns and he can find it, track it down field, which is a really difficult thing for a lot of defensive backs to do," Koziol said. "That to me is what jumped out on tape. Is if the ball is up in the air, it's one thing to have that frame and that length, it's another thing to be able to go up and play it like a wide receiver, which was really fun to watch."

While Frazier will turn 25 this October, he sees advantages to entering the NFL as an older rookie.

"I think it's going to help me because coming in I'm 24, going to be 25 in the season, but I haven't played a lot, so my body is still very fresh," Frazier said. "So it's the pros and cons, but me, mentally and physically, I know what my body can do and I know it's in the best shape it's going to be."

Above all else, Frazier is ready to arrive in Chicago and "get coached up."

While his positive personality and ability to overcome adversity appealed to the Bears, his long, athletic frame and incomparable speed were also a perfect fit for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's scheme.

"This is a guy that was really a one-year starter at UTSA, but you turn around and there [are] not a lot of guys who walk the earth that are almost 6'3 [and] run in the 4.3s," Koziol said. "And then the cool thing with him too is he got his hand on a lot of balls this year – six interceptions, eight PBUs. So when you get a guy who fits that press cover mold that can also take the ball away, I think you are more than willing to take a shot and develop guys like that."