If not for some patience on Hutson Mason’s part, he could’ve been playing for Butch Jones. Or at least where Butch Jones used to coach.
Jones was one of the first coaches to offer Mason a scholarship back when Mason was a senior at Lassiter High School.
“They offered me at Central Michigan,” Mason said this week. “Him and Coach (Mike) Bajakian, who’s now the offensive coordinator at Tennessee, they recruited me my senior year. He took the Cincinnati job and offered me to come play at Cincinnati. I never really talked to Coach Jones that much but had a pretty good relationship with Coach Bajakian.”
“Hutson Mason, very familiar with him,” Jones acknowledged this week. “We went through the recruiting process with him. He’s managing the game exceptionally well and playing winning football for them.”
Mason’s first offer was from Iowa. He said he was also recruited by Tennessee and went there on an official visit. In fact, he has a family full of Big Orange fans. But Mason never received an offer from the Vols and he said he would not have gone there if they had.
Lane Kiffin was the head coach at the time.
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