Shaq Mason may best exemplify the maturation of Georgia Tech’s senior class as it prepares to play its final game against Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl.
Flash back to the Sun Bowl in 2011. Making his first start, Mason was tasked with dealing with Utah all-conference defensive lineman Star Lotuleiei, who a year later would become a first-round pick in the NFL draft. On the first play, Lotuleiei shed Mason’s attempt to block, leaving him wondering what just happened.
“He shredded me in my first start on TV,” Mason said.
Three years and oodles of experience gained over 38 more starts, Mason is an All-American for the Yellow Jackets, who are attempting to become just the fifth team in school history to win at least 11 games.
“I don’t think that would happen right now,” he said of the Sun Bowl experience.
It’s been a journey typical of most senior classes: bouts of immaturity, injuries and inexplicable losses balanced by lessons learned, friendships made and enriching victories.
“They’ve been pretty consistent,” coach Paul Johnson said of the senior class that posted an almost-even record of 28-25 from 2010-13 before this year’s 10-3 mark.
Mason may be the only one of the team’s 22 seniors and redshirt seniors to be named All-American this year, but that’s not the only part of the measure of growth that is expected from students after as many as five years of college.
College is about experiencing life and trying to find the next path in life, whether it’s the NFL – something that should happen for a few Yellow Jackets – or the 40-hour work week, or finding the love of your life.
It’s a kaleidoscope of experiences and Tech’s senior have experienced many of them:
- Offensive lineman Trey Braun, who recently graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, will get married in January;
- Linebacker Quayshawn Nealy, who may get an NFL shot, interned with the College of Business last summer;
- A-back Deon Hill overcame Crohn's Disease to become a key contributor for the offense;
- Versatile back Charles Perkins recovered from what appeared to be a career-ending shoulder injury in 2012 to reclaim a starting spot;
- Safety Isaiah Johnson continued his efforts to feed the homeless, something he has done since enrolling in 2010;
- Will Smith juggled all of the hours of football and academics to maintain a 4.0 grade-point average. Twelve of the 16 scholarship seniors have earned their degrees.
But the experiences the fans got to share may be the most valuable even if they weren’t always as good as most of this year’s moments.
Some of the members of the class got off to an unimaginably bad start in 2010 with a loss at Kansas, annually one of the worst FBS teams from a power conference.
Lows continued with more losses than wins to the quartet of rivals of Virginia Tech, Clemson, Miami and Georgia.
“We knew we could be great, it was just a few plays in a few major games,” receiver Darren Waller said.
And then the group hit bottom on Oct.3, 2012: the loss to Middle Tennessee State at Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2012. The Raiders, then members of the Sun Belt, ran over and through the Jackets that day in posting a 49-28 victory.
Part of the drive that fueled this year, this memorable year in which, for the first time for this class of seniors, the team swept Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and the career highlight of beating Georgia before taking Florida State to the wire in the ACC Championship game, came from that loss to Middle Tennessee.
“We didn’t come to play and it showed, ten times,” Nealy said. “It exposed us and put us out there. We learned a lesson.”
It took another season for some of the group to realize that success depends upon hard work in all football activities, but that’s another sign of maturation, that physical and spiritual growth that has carried the team to the Orange Bowl and a chance for the Jackets to win their first major bowl since 1955.
“Be remembered as guys that paved the way for the younger guys, (taught them) right way to do these things that led this team to hopefully 11 wins,” Mason said.
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