Rutgers' Mason easing back into things after leg injury in 2018
Tijaun Mason was virtually on the shelf once again for an entire season.
After missing all of the 2017 season for the Rutgers football team has he was getting over a shoulder injury, he broke his leg just 10 snaps into his redshirt freshman year in 2018 in the season-opening win against Texas State.
“When it happened I was kind of in the heat of the moment. I didn’t feel it. I looked up and was like, ‘Ohhh’! The whole situation was a challenge for me mentally, but I kept my head up,” Mason said after spring practice on Thursday. “I kept on my work and stayed around my teammates, called my mom, dad, grandma, whoever so I didn’t have to think about it. Some days it got to me, but for the most part I was able to keep my head up. It wasn’t my first injury. My freshman year I tore my labrum in my shoulder, so it wasn’t my first rodeo.”
As with any injury for anybody, once you heal physically, you have to get over the mental barrier. You think each step you take something bad will go wrong or one hit could make you hurt again.
At the start of the spring, Mason went with the flow and held back at times. But outside linebackers and special teams coach Vince Okruch mentioned he’s improving day by day.
“Good. At first he was a little bit tentative, then you get a bump or a bruise and you realize everything still works and they did fix it,” Okruch said. “He’s been getting better every day. Early in the spring it was a little bit uncomfortable for him because he hadn’t done anything for a while, but he’s conditioned himself so he’s ready to go.”
Mason talked about how the spring is going in his own words as well. Like riding a bike for the first time and you tack on extra wheels to help balance it or when you get on for the first time in a long time and you pedal slowly, that’s kind of what Mason has been doing over the course of the last few weeks.
“It’s been a little challenging. I’ve had to ease into things,” Mason said. “When I first came back I was rusty. Now, I took the training wheels off and am getting back to where I was. Not all the way, though because my main goal is to be better than last year.”
Mason said he isn’t 100 percent yet -- about 85 -- and it is critical that he gets healthier and stays healthy going forward.
“Staying in the training room every day,” Mason told TKR on what he needs to do to make sure he isn’t injured again and how to heal up. “On weekends, I just stay in bed. I don’t go out anymore. I’m not a party guy. I just do everything for my ankle now. If I don’t feel like something is right, I go on the sideline and get stretched out. I’ll go in the hot tub, cold tub, a lot of stuff. I don’t want to be hurt anymore. I don’t think anybody does. The whole process is crazy. It shows you who you are as a person. It showed me who I was a person, but at the same time, I don’t want to go through it again.”
This season, Mason is part of a four-man group at the JACK linebacker along with Elorm Lumor, CJ Onyechi, and Nihym Anderson.
Okruch talked about how each player brings something different to the table. As for Mason, he specializes in getting after to the quarterback and more.
“I bring everything, my attitude, my passion, my drive, my will. I can do everything,” Mason said.
All four Scarlet Knights are said to be unselfish. Lumor talked about it in another Thursday interview with TKR and Mason reiterated the notion. They all thrive on helping everybody improve.
“At the JACK position we don’t worry about the depth chart. We all help each other. We’re there for each other and we push each other,” Mason said. “We never worry about who is starting or finishing. When my time comes, my time comes. When coach puts me in, I’ll show them what I can do. I don’t have any jealousy. I don’t like to steal anybody’s shine.”
While they all want to perform, if Mason for example is on the sidelines and Lumor is wreaking havoc on the field, he’s all for it.
“Of course I like to shine, but in the situation where my brother is shining, I’ll stay right there and show him what he’s doing right or wrong. I’m not the type of person who needs to be in there,” Mason said.
“If it’s not my time now it’s not my time. I had to learn that my freshman year of high school. Time is money and time is patient. So, when you get thrown in, you have to know what you’re doing. It’s different being on the sideline than the field.”
