Prep Red Zone MVPs – Linebackers

Brian Jerzak May 3, 2022 @ 11:04 PM

Over the years covering high school football and wrestling, one thing I can say for sure is the top-level guys are always easy to spot. Usually, just by seeing their bodies and the way they move those bodies, they stand out. I was roaming around the Minnesota Showcase during the individual drills during the first session. I was as far away from the linebacker drills as possible, but I happened to be looking in that direction. I could tell he was someone to watch even from fifty yards away. I moved as quickly as I could to get to the other side of the dome before losing sight of the player. Once I got over to the right side of the dome, I could see his jersey number. The athlete I observed was [player_tooltip player_id="242433" first="Mason" last="Carrier"] from Detroit Lakes. Carrier is not the athlete he was a few months ago. "The last (showcase) I did, I was about 192 pounds, and now I am sitting at 207, and all my times have improved since the last time I did it," Carrier said. "I was happy about that. I didn’t feel sluggish at all." Not feeling sluggish was an understatement. Carrier ran a 4.72 forty, a 4.15 shuttle, a 10’3" broad jump, and a 7.03 L-drill. "I wanted to compare myself to the other kids," Carrier continued, "and try to learn some stuff from the coaches and learn new warm-up techniques so I don’t get injured." Skill-wise, Saturday helped him with his footwork. "The moving downhill drill we did – keeping my shoulders square – helped. I was working on breaking down my feet and not stopping my feet." During the football season, Carrier was thrust into multiple roles. <img class="size-medium wp-image-330861 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/05/Mason-Carrier.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />"We lost a lot of guys from the year before, so I knew I would be asked to do a lot. I played quarterback in the Wildcat; I played fullback, tailback, and mostly linebacker." The season for the team was a success. "It was the first year with our new head coach, and we made it to the section championship." As a linebacker, Carrier usually lined up at weakside inside linebacker in the Lakers’ 3-4 base defense. "On defense, I think I have good lateral movement. Whenever an offense would run tosses and sweeps, I was able to move over fast enough to make the play. On offense, I am better at breaking tackles than running around guys. I have had quite a few runs with two or three guys hanging off me." The three-sport athlete’s (basketball and track) footwork tips picked up during the showcase flow right into the areas he is looking to improve on technically for next season. "I need to be able to get off blocks and take better angles to avoid blocks. I am also working on getting rid of a false step that I took last year. On offense, I am working on my footwork at the quarterback position. I need to get better at that for my team."