Michigan football senior fullback Ben Mason joined former Wolverine All-American Jon Jansen on his In The Trenches podcast. The two discussed a number of topics, including Mason's mindset as a player, what it has been like switching positions multiple times throughout his career, his thoughts on the U-M team's preparedness for the upcoming season, the culture in the building and much more.
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On why his nickname is 'Bench'
"I think it started when I was a freshman in high school. There was a kid on my team named Tim Craft. He was like the strongest kid in high school — very big bench, very big squat. I think his total was well over 1,200 as a junior. I came in and had a bigger bench than him as a freshman in high school, and people were kind of shocked, and he kind of gave [the nickname] to me. I played linebacker next to him in high school."
On how he benefits from lifting weights other than just getting stronger
"A lot of people think you work out to get stronger, you want to have a big bench or be able to squat a lot of weight, but to me, it’s more about developing a mindset where you’re confident, because doing big weights is going to lead to confidence, and that’s only going to make you a more confident football player on the field. Along with that, a couple of the other big benefits of working out are you get to be around your teammates and get to see how they work, so you get to get on them and press them a little bit, too, so that’s always a good time."
On the challenges of the team being separated for much of the offseason
"For like three months, guys were all around the country in different spots, with a lot of different exposure to different weight rooms and places to workout. So, people came back with all different kinds of capabilities, and honestly, a lot of the guys made very good use of their time.
"I think a lot of people looked at this little bit of adversity that we faced as an opportunity to get better, and they handled it very professionally, which I think is going to benefit us going forward this season. It’s just like life — when adversity hits you, you have two options: you can either let it dictate your life or you can take action and make the most of the opportunity that you have. It’s really about how you look at it; it’s all perception."
On how he approached the COVID-19 shutdown
"I basically, after a week of being [in Ann Arbor], I drove back home to Connecticut and reached out to my high school trainer, and he basically setup a whole little thing in his garage — which was extremely nice and I can’t thank him enough for that — and worked out with a group of two or three other college football players, my brother being one of them. We worked out a lot, ate a lot of good food, and that was a really good part of it, mom’s home cooking.
"We made good use of the time and were able to get better out of it."
On what it was like to switch positions from linebacker to fullback to defensive tackle and finally back to fullback, and what he got out of the experience
"I just came in with an open mind. I knew when I came in, I was a linebacker, knew there was a chance I could be moved to fullback. I really had no clue that my career could’ve taken a turn to defensive tackle, but when it finally did, I just looked at it as a challenge, and I wanted to make the most of that challenge. I worked as hard as I could, did pretty well, started a game or two and I wouldn’t change that experience for the world.
"For lot of people, they look at what happened last year and they say, ‘What were you doing? Why would you move to defensive tackle after doing pretty well at fullback?’ And it’s just like, I really believe in everything Coach [Jim] Harbaugh has to say. He would never advise any player to a wrong decision for their football career, just because of how much he loves football. It was just part of the process, so I really have trust in everyone in the building, in terms of putting people in the right positions to play at their best.
"It’s definitely widened my understanding [playing defensive tackle], but I think from a physical perspective of being on the line, having to go up against guys like Cesar Ruiz, Ben Bredeson, Mike Onwenu, Jalen Mayfield, Andrew Stueber, all those guys. Just going up against them, it kind of gives you a whole new perspective of … you can go against guys that are that big, and hold your own. Then when you run up to block a linebacker or somebody in the secondary, it makes it that much easier."
On his personal goals for this upcoming season
"I want to make some big blocks and just bring the most out of my teammates. Anything that I can do to make the team better and anything I can do to make Michigan a great program, that’s what I want to do. Anything that they ask me to do from a coaching perspective on the field and in the locker room and off the field, [I’m going to do it]."
On how Bo Schembechler's "The Team, The Team, The Team" mantra has influenced him
"That’s one of the best sayings that ever could’ve been invented, because if you can think about football as something bigger than yourself, which is exactly what it is, that’s going to lead to a lot more team success. And with team success comes individual success, so if your team is doing well, you’re going to do well.
"Yeah I take that into account when Coach Harbaugh asked me to move positions multiple times because I know that in the end … first of all, it’s going to make Michigan better, which is what we all want, and it’s also going to make myself better as a player. That’s definitely something I’ve taken into account. And Bo Schembechler, he’s definitely one of the most well-respected guys around here. I mean, we have a statue in front of Schem."
On what it will mean if Michigan is able to play a 2020 season
Everyone’s asking, ‘Are you guys gonna play this year?’ And the honest answer is no one really knows. No one knows what’s going to happen. Any of us could sit here and say what we think, but from a player’s perspective, we just have to be ready whenever that is — whether that’s in September or that’s sometime in the spring. Whenever we have the opportunity to get on the field, we’re going to be ready, and that’s kind of our mindset."
On if he has any concerns about playing safely
"No, I really don’t have any concerns at all. I think that if there was a concern from a medical perspective, they wouldn’t have us back here. And for a lot of guys, it’s a safer environment to be around the same guys on a day-to-day basis, rather than being back home and being around different people, who you don’t know what guys could be doing at home and who they would be around. It’s a more controlled environment here."
On the experience of being a student-athlete enrolled in the prestigious Ross School of Business
"All the academic support has really done a great job of not only developing us as students, but developing us as young men who are ready for the real world. We have all the skills, time management, we have the discipline, which we’ve learned from football, and it’s kind of cemented through the academics. And the confidence, I think. Between those three things, Michigan has really set up a lot of student-athletes well for the real world."
On what recently retired U-M director of athletic counseling Greg Harden has meant to him
"A lot of people know Greg Harden because of his relationship with Tom Brady and Desmond Howard … I think, yeah, all that stuff’s great, but the reason he’s associated with people of that success is because he’s that successful; he’s a guy who … it kind of goes along with a lot of what we were just talking about with mindset — that’s his main pitch. If you have kind of a neutral mindset and you don’t let things sway you, don’t get too high or too low, don’t let the experiences of being a student-athlete affect who you are as a person and you just stay level-headed throughout it all, you’re going to be better off."
On why he plays football
"I play football because I love football — everything about it.
"One of the best parts about playing football is the feeling of finishing your guy into the ground and being on top of somebody and yeah, that’s the best part about it for me.
Whatever reason you do play football — it could be because your dad played football or you want to go to the NFL and make a lot of money — whatever reason you do, that drives you on a daily basis, and people talk about your ‘why,' why you do something. That’s something you always have to remember, but when you really love something, that can take you a long way if you have a lot of passion for it."
On what he wants to do after his football career is over
"First, definitely start off in a corporate business, just as some type of manager, whether that’s a lower level manager working in a fleet or some type of branch. And then from there, kind of climb my way up the corporate ladder a little bit, and eventually after that, I think it would be really cool to have an understanding of big business and end up owning my own business one day. I’m not exactly sure what I would sell. Maybe football pads."
On the importance of upperclassmen, such as himself, taking younger players under their wing
"That’s one of the most important things as a football program because a program is who’s in at the time, but when the freshmen come in, they’re the future of the program. You can show them the right way of doing things. You want to be the first guy to show up, the last one to leave.
"If you can instill the right type of discipline and expectations in them, that’s going to have a positive effect on the program — not only right now, but for years to come down the road."
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