ATHENS — It wasn’t a significant touchdown, what with Georgia already well on its way to a 59-0 victory, but it surely was an exciting one for backup quarterback Hutson Mason.
In the third quarter, one play after Georgia recovered a fumble at the Coastal Carolina 33-yard line, tight end Orson Charles sprinted down the middle of the field, and Mason hit him with a strike after looking the safety off the play.
“It was funny because coach [Mike] Bobo had told us we were going to run [that play],” Mason said later. “Then we got that turnover, and I was thinking, ‘Call it; call it; call it.’ And he called it, and I got in the huddle and was, like, ‘Boys, we’re scoring right here, I’m telling you.’”
Among the many aspects of Saturday’s 59-0 victory over Coastal Carolina that the Bulldogs enjoyed was the opportunity for Mason, Aaron Murray’s little-used backup, to play.
“I think Hutson is a very good player. I think Hutson has been practicing extremely well,” coach Mark Richt said afterward. “He has practiced so well that you hate that he hasn’t gotten more playing time. That’s absolutely no knock against Murray — we think Murray is our guy; we think Murray is a heck of a player — but when a backup [practices] well at any position you just want to play him.”
Bobo, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, told Mason early in the week that he would enter Saturday’s game on the Bulldogs’ second possession of the third quarter. At that point, the Bulldogs led 38-0.
Appearing in his first game of the season, Mason quarterbacked the Bulldogs on their next six possessions, three of which resulted in touchdowns. He scored on a 1-yard keeper and completed six of nine passes for 68 yards, including the touchdown throw to Charles immediately after Georgia kicker Blair Walsh recovered a Coastal Carolina fumble on a kickoff return. Mason yielded to walk-on third-string quarterback Parker Welch midway through the fourth quarter.
Mason, a sophomore from Lassiter High, said he felt prepared and comfortable in the game. He acknowledged “it’s hard” to play so rarely.
“I tell a lot of people that by no means did I ever come here to be the backup for four years,” Mason said. “I know me and Aaron are the same year. It’s a pretty weird and not an ideal situation for me right now, but I keep busting my butt every day and know the Lord has got a plan for me. That might be today, tomorrow, I don’t know when it is. But I control things I can control, and that’s working hard every day.
“I’m glad I could get an opportunity to play, and I’ll go back to work in the film room and just wait for an opportunity when it counts the most.”
Bobo said the coaches and players “have great confidence that Hutson Mason can get the job done. He’s been doing it over and over in practice. ... He did [Saturday] what he’s been doing in practice. He does a nice job of delivering the ball. He was getting it out quick, which is good to see.”
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