Q & A with Hutson Mason: “The Ride” – Episode 1
Hutson Mason has had two very productive years and a lot of success after having to deal with quite a bit of adversity up to his sophomore year at Lassiter. That is when a coach and a system that fit his style came to the rescue. Chip Lindsey was hired to jump start a program that had not been to the playoffs since 2000, and had only three winning seasons in that same time period. What he brought with him was a proven offense that had seen much success at his previous school Hoover, AL. In their first year together they not only had a winning season but won the schools first playoff game since 1986, and Mason came within five yards of breaking the GHSA record for passing yards in a single season enroute to being named the AP Class 5A Offensive Player of the Year and 2008 Cobb County Player of the Year.
In doing so Mason was getting noticed by some colleges but he was getting noticed by others as well. Mason was picked to be one of eight quarterbacks vying for a spot in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl by competing in a reality show on CSS called simply “The Ride” because after all that is what all these quarterbacks are shooting for at the next level.
Over the next several weeks we will get Hutson’s thoughts on each of the episodes after it airs, to discuss what went on during the process of shooting and some behind the scenes insight.
KW: When you were selected to do the show. What were your initial thoughts and what was the selection process?
HM: “It was pretty surprising. They kind of told me straight forward and said listen you are going to be on a TV show and this is what’s going to happen. I was informed a week ahead of time and it hit me pretty quick and it was exciting at the same time. The way they chose me was that I went to an FBU (Football University) camp down in Stockbridge and they have them all over the country. I went down there and did an in depth interview with a representative and they selected eight which are the eight on the show out of 60-70 across the country. They called me a week later after the camp and told me that I made it. At the time I was going to be attending a summer camp at Iowa, who Hutson was being recruited by, so I had to rearrange some stuff so I flew to Philly and then Philly to Iowa.”
KW: In the first episode you said that your motto is to prove people wrong. Who are you trying to prove wrong?
HM: “It’s not necessarily one person it is anytime you get on one of those blogs that say he is a system QB, the reason he doesn’t have the big offers is because he is not that good. He can’t throw the ball downfield he doesn’t have the arm strength. It is all those people. All those people that say the big offer from the SEC the ACC whatever it is, isn’t going to come. So every time I hear that, every time I’m sitting there before the game the guy announces my name and they get the overrated chant going on, that’s the people I want to prove wrong and that’s what gets me going. All the people who say you can’t do it and this and that. That is what I play the game for.”
KW: After episode 1, who did you feel was your biggest competition?
HM: “I would say probably the kid with the best arm there was the kid from Tampa Fl. the CJ. Bennet kid. He was just undersized which was unfortunate. I think he is committed to Wyoming now but the kid could go out there and throw a laser rocket every time. I think everyone kind of got the feeling that he could. He could throw the comeback, and it was pretty to. Routes on air he was killing it and everyone probably knew that he was going to get chosen and besides him I think everyone else was pretty much the same. Everyone had the same amount of talent; it was just the matter of who could be the most consistent because that’s what they were looking for. They weren’t looking for someone who could throw a pretty slant but would skip a comeback route to the receiver at 18 yards. I think that is what separated us was the consistency of who could throw a pretty route on time when the guy comes out of his break on every single break on every single time.”
KW: The coaches and the administrators threw a wrinkle in at the end of episode 1 as we headed to episode 2. One of the coaches liked what they saw in a quarterback that was with the other QB’s and wanted to bring him into your group of eight to make nine vying for one spot. What did you and the other guys think when they brought Cole Marcoux into the mix?
HM: “There were actually seven of us as the one 8TH kid didn’t show up in Philly so technically there was seven and they had an extra room. That kid he was, he could really be special. When I saw that kid come in, I was like wholly cow he was huge. He had just started playing football like two years ahead of the show as he mainly concentrated on baseball. He had a rocket for an arm. At the same time I was like well dang here is another kid we have to compete with but that was the whole point of the show competing with kids so I just had to ignore it and keep going.”
Hutson and I will talk each Tuesday after “The Ride” airs on Monday night on CSS at 10:30 and you can find out what was going on in his mind during shooting.
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