Shortly after training camp opened, Marcus Mason took stock of the Redskins’ roster. He noticed how many veteran running backs they had. He noticed how few spots were available.
So he penciled himself in for the practice squad.
“I didn’t think I would make the roster,” the Georgetown Prep graduate said.
His thinking changed after the scrimmage against Baltimore, when he mentally erased his original prognostication. Eventually, the Redskins agreed with him, too, making him their fourth running back.
When he didn’t get cut Saturday, Mason completed a football journey that once nearly forced him to stop playing.
Mason is one of four local players who earned a roster spot, but he’s the only one on the active roster. Fullback Brian Bell (DeMatha), corner Byron Westbrook (DeMatha) and defensive end Alex Buzbee (Georgetown) are on the practice squad.
“My heart was beating 100 miles a minute,” Mason said of Saturday’s cutdown day. “It’s hard to describe that feeling. It’s like on draft day where you’re hoping you get a call. This time I was hoping I didn’t get a call … I called my mother, she was crying. The whole family was over there and they all started crying.”
His mom — a Cowboys fan whom he said is having a hard time converting her allegiances — knows how far he’s traveled from Prep to the NFL. He played two seasons at Illinois before transferring to Youngstown State — a local booster allegedly gave him money at Illinois.
“The booster thing, team [violation] stuff, not getting enough playing time, it was a lot of things and it was frustrating,” Mason said. “I started second guessing if I wanted to play football.
“But after going through camp there, I was like, ‘OK, I still have the love for football.’ Things took off from there and now I’m really glad I stuck through with it.”
In two years at Youngstown State, Mason rushed for 2,739 yards. This summer, the 5-foot-9, 218-pound Mason impressed the coaches with his cutting ability and rugged runs.
“He felt all along that he belonged,” running backs coach Earnest Byner said. “[Rookies] get that look in the eye, that thousand-mile stare. But he never did have that. He always had that natural energy and feel. … He’svery, very powerful. I’ll walk by and pat him on the leg and say to myself, ‘Gosh, this sucker is made tight.’”
Said coach Joe Gibbs, “He reminds me of [ex-Redskin and New York Giant] Jamie Morris, his running style, that forward body lean. … He’s impressed us from the very beginning.”
