Mason primed for year 2
Coach Derek Mason was highly generous in spending an hour with me over the phone on Thursday morning to talk about his young, exciting football team that heads into 2015 with extremely high hopes. There are 50 scholarship players returning with just eight scholarship seniors and 15 scholarship juniors. Coach Mason and his staff brought in 19 freshmen to go along with the returning vets, and this is a talented freshmen class, many of whom will see playing time this fall, along with the talented returners we have on this football team. Coach Mason said there are really all 22 starters returning to this football team. He doesn’t worry about any comments about this being a young team. Practice starts Wednesday, August 5th, and Coach Mason, his staff and our 85 scholarshipped players are chomping at the bit to get started. The offseason program with new strength and conditioning Coach James Dobson was spectacular. Dobson helped Nebraska go to seven consecutive bowl games as their S&C coach and brought a passion and energy to the guys’ workouts they haven’t seen in quite some time. He’s a motivator and a championship caliber strength coach.
Coach Mason is ecstatic over first year offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and what he brings in from his offensive coordinator duties at Wisconsin where he led a talented team to an Outback Bowl victory over Auburn and had a 2000+ yard rusher in Melvin Gordon last year. Gordon was a Heisman finalist and a first round draft pick by the San Diego Chargers. Mason loves that Coach Ludwig can mentor our quarterbacks and our offense and he has high aspirations for what this offense can do under Ludwig. Mason calls Ludwig a funny, engaging man who eats, sleeps and breathes football. Mason calls him ” a mad scientist” as an offensive mind and that is in a highly complimentary way. Coach Ludwig knows how to move the football and get it in the end zone.
The quarterback battle will most likely come down to former four-star redshirt sophomore Johnny McCrary (6’4″, 220), and high three star, true sophomore Wade Freebeck (6’5″, 226), with Shawn “Stank” Stankavage (6’2″, 195, RS Freshman) in the mix. Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig will also welcome in four-star quarterback Kyle Shurmur (true frosh, 6’4″, 226), whom Mason says will be “the future of our program down the road.” Shurmur, from Philadelphia, Pa, is the son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, and possesses a cannon-like arm. Kyle is highly accurate and has very good mobility and an extremely high football IQ. So quarterback looks solid heading into fall camp. Coach Mason also hired two young, energetic and talented coaches in wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton, who came from Dartmouth where he helped lead the Big Green to a 20-10 three year span, and safeties coach Marc Mattioli who coached with Coach Mason at Stanford and comes from Stanford after working with their secondary under Stanford Coach David Shaw. They both bring high energy, great coaching, and great recruiting ability to the fold. They along with our returning coaches round out an excellent staff.
Another major change will be Coach Mason taking over the defense as defensive coordinator. He looked around and thought there was nobody more suited to oversee his defense than himself. He says the team has practiced in the time frame the NCAA has given the coaches this summer, getting to practice at 5:45 AM, working out where Coach Mason does his coaching and then has handled his head coaching duties, media and speaking engagements in the afternoon.
We’ve got a great group of players returning and with Coach Mason, Coach Ludwig, our two young coaches along with our present coaches the team is energized to have a highly competitive 2015 and set their sights on a very good year and position themselves for big things in the future. We start off with Western Kentucky at Dudley Field in Nashville on Thursday, September 3rd, at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT on the SEC Network. Western has one of the more prolific offenses in the country, led by quarterback Brandon Doughty who was 375-of-552 for 4,830 yards, 49 TDs and 10 ints last season. He has talented playmakers around him and a good offensive line. Their defense is improved from a year ago. They beat a previously undefeated Marshall team (Marshall was 11-0), 67-66 last year, and won their Bahamas Bowl game over Central Michigan, 49-48. Jeff Brohm, a keen offensive mind, is their head coach. Coach Mason and his staff knows this will be a huge challenge, but we have the makings of a heckuva defense and a coach that beat Marcus Mariota and Oregon twice as defensive coordinator at Stanford.
Coach Mason and his staff have secured 10 commitments for the 2016 class and Mason strongly believes we’ve got some more studs secured to fill out this class, who will pull the trigger once they see how competitive we are in the first three games of the season. We’ll play Georgia in week 2 at home, Saturday, Sept. 12th, at 3:30 PM ET/2:30 PM CT on CBS. Nick Chubb and company will be a challenge, but I like the way our defense is developing to be maybe the most unsung and one of the best in the SEC. Game three is against Austin Peay at home @ 4 PM ET/3 PM CT on the SEC Network Alternate channel. Then we play @ Ole Miss, @ Middle Tennessee State, @ South Carolina, home vs. Missouri, @ Houston, @ Florida, home vs. Kentucky, home vs Texas A&M and @ Tennessee on Nov. 28th, a Saturday. The only other game that has been set for TV is the MTSU game which will air at 7 PM ET/6 PM CT on the CBS College Sports Network. The schedule is the fifth hardest in the country, but that doesn’t deter Coach Mason, his staff and the players. They embrace this challenge.
Here is my interview with Coach Mason.
DW: Coach, what’s the mindset of this football team heading into 2015?
DM: “It’s a mindset like we never really left. We’ve been working and pushing since the end of last season to change our culture, how we approach the game and how we play the game.”
DW: Coach, I heard in media days that you talked about the physical development of the team. Talk about the physical development of the team in the offseason?
DM: “James Dobson, our new strength coach, has added more upper body strength to our team. We’ve made a lot of strength gains. He has installed confidence in our players. Our defensive lineman and offensive linemen are much bigger and stronger. We’ve been going to work every week since the end of the season last year. We’ve had tough lifting sessions and he’s pushed these guys to their limits, to what they did two, three years ago when they were going to bowl games. He went to seven consecutive bowl games as Nebraska’s strength coach. He is teaching us how to compete in the SEC and how to give maximum effort. What you do in the weight room carries over onto the football field, and James has given our guys the mindset on how to compete and win in the SEC. We have a saying it’s ‘RTI.’ R stands for relentlessness, being a relentless competitor. We want to be tough, tough as anybody on that football field, even tougher. And we want to be intelligent. Not hurt ourselves with penalties, convert in the redzone, stop the other team on third and fourth downs. We want to be as fast and physical as we can be and be relentless up front on both sides of the ball. Coach Dobson has brought that mindset into our offseason program.”
DW: Coach, I’ll ask you the inevitable question: how is the quarterback competition shaping up, is Stank healthy, how does the competition between Johnny and Wade look and what does freshman Kyle Shurmur bring to the table?
DM: “First, I’ll start with Stank. He’s rehabbed his knee well (he hurt his knee in the spring, an ACL tear), he’s moving around well and he’ll be full go later in camp. He’s put on 13 pounds of strength and looks great. Kyle Shurmur no doubt could be the future of this football team. He’s a young guy with excellent size, a strong arm, he’s extremely mobile, and is very accurate with his throws. He will deliver the ball where it needs to go.
“Now to Wade and Johnny. They are our lead candidates for the starting job and the number one backup. We will have a clear number one and number two. They’re both working hard. We ask our quarterbacks to do three things: 1. To lead us, 2. help us move the football and get in the end zone, and 3. to take care of the football. Our quarterbacks need to be consistent and intelligent. Wade has a strong arm and good mobility and Johnny has gotten his weight down to 218. Johnny had some highs and lows last year as did Wade, but both are talented players and are capable of leading this team to a successful season.”
DW: How does running back look with Ralph Webb and Dallas Rivers as your go to guys?
DM: “Ralph (5’10”, 202, RS soph) has gotten faster, he’s catching the ball out of the backfield and he’s really worked on his pass pro. We wanted him to add more to his game than just carrying the football, and one thing about Ralph, he wants to work. Ralph ran for over 900 yards last year and we expect big things from him. He doesn’t take anything for granted. He’s a worker. Dallas averaged 4.5 yards a carry last year. He has great vision and great size (6’1″, 224 soph), and he’s a great compliment to Ralph with his tough running style. At fullback we have DeAndre Woods (6’3″, 235), Ladarius Banks (6’2″, 255) and Kyle Anderton (6’5″, 255). This is a group with great size and we can use them all over the place. Coach Ludwig can use us in two backs are put them as H-backs. All are good blockers and physical players. And then we have Darrius Sims, who we’re going to get as many touches as possible (kind of like a D.J. Moore with rocket sweeps and passes out in the flat and out wide). And Darrius, I’m not trying to put too much pressure on him, but as a punt returner, he can be like Devin Hester. He’s that good. He’s just a dynamic player. I told him that during a game you might get five or six opportunities to return a punt. That’ll be at least 60 opportunities over the course of the regular season. We’ll use him in the slot a lot. He’s a game changer.
“And let me move over to the tight end position. Steven Scheu (6’5″, 245) can have a tremendous year (loo0king at a next level guy here-in my opinion, probably in Coach Mason’s too). We’ve got him DeAndre Woods, and Nathan Marcus (6’5″, 240) is going to be a big time player for us. The tight end is the quarterback’s best friend. Sam Dobbs (6’4″, 220 freshman) and Jared Pinkney (6’4″, 240) are going to be great players for us too. They both have elite speed and good skill sets, good hands.”
Mason was at Stanford where tight ends played a huge part in the offense. Guys like Colby Fleener (Indianapolis Colts) are big time players. Zac Ertz was another who stood out at Stanford and is a big time player for the Philadelphia Eagles now. Mason likes his tight ends. I’d say Rob Gronkowski and Jason Witten are pretty important players to the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys respectively.
“And we’ve got a bunch of receivers. A guy to look for is Trent Sherfield (6’0″, 200, soph), He’s dynamic and has elite speed and great hands. With Trent and Latevius Rayford (6’1″, 200) on the perimeter, then you add C.J. Duncan (who can be a house call waiting to happen as well) in the slot, and Ronald Monroe (6’3″, 200) who can be a special player for us too. Caleb Scott (6’2″, 195) and Rashad Canty will be weapons also. We have some weapons on the outside.”
DW: How does the offensive front look?
DM: “We’ve got our four key guys in Jelks, Pulley, Bernstein and Gouger. We’ll have Spencer Pulley at center (6’4″, 300 senior) and he’s played a lot of games here along with those other guys. They’re all in the 310-315 range.”
Andrew Jelks, a four star recruit three years ago should have a breakout year at left tackle. Jake Bernstein can play guard or tackle and brings tenaciousness and toughness. Barrett Gouger is a guard who also brings tenacity and physicality to the line, and Will Holden or Delando Crooks could man the other tackle spot. Both could be elite. Coach Mason also likes Bruno Reagan (6″3″, 315, redshirt freshman). Justin Skule (6″7″, 305 freshman), Blake Fromang (6’7″, 305) and Cole Hardin (6’4″, 300) will supply excellent depth. The line is big, strong and deep. Kevin McCoy is another who could stand out at some point in the season if he has a good fall practice. He’s 6’5″, 305. So there is excellent depth, a ton of physicality, experience, and high football IQ on this line. Jared Southers, a true freshman, is 6’4″, 315, and Coach Mason likes his potential for this team.
DW: Coach let’s talk about your specialty, your defense, starting up front?
DM: “We’re going to play aggressive, hard-nosed and get to the football, and it starts with the guys in the trenches. I’m excepting Stephen Weatherly (6″5″, 250 OLB in 3-4 defense) to have a big year both in rushing the quarterback and stopping the run. Caleb Azubike (6’4″, 260) is going to play with his hand on the ground this year. Both can be dominant players for us. Adam Butler (DE, 6’5″, 300, RS Jr) can be a force for us in the middle along with Nifae (Lealao, 6’5″, 315 DT). We’re hoping to get good production out of Jay Woods (DE/DT, 6″3″, 280). Jay is a strong player and will be very disruptive. We also want good production from Jonathan Wynn (6″4″, 250 D end) and Torey Agee *6’4″, 282, DE or DT). We feel like we have a good front with good depth.”
Look for freshman Darrion Debrossard (6’4″, 340) to make an impact this fall too.
DW: Coach I know you’re excited about your linebackers.
DM: “We’ve got a highly talented, deep, tough linebacking corps. You start with Nigel Bowden and Darreon Herring on the inside. Nigel (6″1″, 24-0) can dominate. Darreon is our leader and has added 9 more pounds of pure muscle. We’ve also got Ja’karri Thomas and Zach Cunningham, who are both dynamic football players for us. Then you add Nehemiah Mitchell (6’4″, 260 junior college transfer) on the outside at linebacker and defensive end, and you’ve got quite a pass rusher and run stopper. Then we add freshmen Caleb Peart (6’1″ 230) and Dare Odeyingbo (6’2″, 252) who are ready to play. Man, I’m excited about our linebackers. On the outside we added freshman Josh Smith ( a four star recruit, freshman) and we won’t be able to keep him off the field. He’s dynamic too. Then Jordan Griffin, another freshman, is tough and highly talented. We’re really good at linebacker.”
DW: How does the secondary look?
DM: “Our safeties, Andrew Williamson, Oren Burks and Jahmel McIntosh, are outstanding. Those are the three guys who stand out. Emmanuel Smith and Tre Tarpley are excellent players (Emmanuel could play the nickel spot). Another guy I left out at linebacker is Khari Blasingame (6’1″, 235, redshirt freshman). He’ll be in the mix. At corner, Torren McGaster looks like a lockdown player and Taurean Ferguson looks like he could be lockdown. Tre Herndon can be a phenomenal player for us at corner or safety. Tre Bell is another talented corner and Jalen Banks is another excellent option at safety. Another guy I want you to look for is LaDarius Wiley at corner. He’s 6’2″, 209 and is highly athletic and talented. He’ll be in the mix. And freshman (cornerback) Donovan Sheffield (a four-star recruit in this freshman group) is dynamic. We’re going to have to get him on the football field. He’s ready.”
DW: How does the kicking game look?
DM: Colby Cooke is 6’3″, 215 and has really improved his leg strength. He will punt. He was a little inconsistent last year. He’d kick a 60 yarder than a 31 harder. But we feel good about him. Tommy Openshaw was one of the better kickers in the conference last year. It took Carey Spear a while to get it and I think Tommy is ready to be our place kicker.”
Wilson Johnson is in the mix as long snapper.
“We’ll have Darrius returning punts and we expect big things out of him. We’ll go with Sims, Duncan, Sherfield, Tre Ellis, Ronald Monroe and Ralph Webb working to get those dynamic kick returners which you need.”
DW: Well, Coach, it sounds like you’re pretty pumped up for Vanderbilt football in 2015?
DM: “I am. We have a lot of young players and we think the future is bright here, but the future is now. We’re ready to get started.”