When watching film on Zach Wilson and OT Brady Christensen their TE/FB Mason Wake kept jumping out at me. Man this kid is a stud who reminds me a little of Cory Schlesinger. Unfortunately he is returning to BYU and won’t be in the NFL draft but man watch this kid play. I’m looking forward to this kid in next years draft.
Here’s a cool video with the kid.
I’m surprised no one wants to talk about this kid. I assume it’s because he’s not in this years draft.
Anyway here’s a cool article on him for those interested.
How old is he? A lot of these BYU guys are much older and more physically developed because they took 2-3 years off to do their mission.
They tend to truck smaller division schools like LA Tech but can’t do the same to the Pac12 schools.
All that said I love me some physical football. the 49ers have made good use of FBs and TEs over the years to dominate teams like this.
Apparently he likes try to hurdle tacklers, and started that in high school.
I am not fan of players trying to hurdle defensive players at all.
Most the time it does not result much additional gain, and the risk of injury (particularly concussion) far outweighs the benefit. At 250 pounds, I would much rather see him lower the shoulder and force a DB to make a “business decision”. The best quality I saw from him was he does have good contact balance when he initiates the hit.
The other thing that stands out to me is that he plays more snaps as a wing back role than true FB.
There are not a ton of lead blocks to evaluate because of his role.
In the Twitter video posted above from Trevor Matich… he gets a good block as a FB.
However, the player he blew up was FS Kevin Brennan, listed at 5’11" and199lbs.
Good block… but not quite the same as taking on NFL MLBs.
There is block in the Twitter video posted by Hans Olsen that shows Wake leveling a LB from La Tech. Wake lined up as a H-back to the right of the ORT, and then similar to a “wham” block, moved inside between the ORG and ORT. He ran over #52 Tyler Grubbs, who was listed as 6’1" and 221 pound freshman. It didn’t appear to me that Grubbs even saw Wake coming at him due to the play design (not a true “blind side” block… but close to it because he was watching Allgeier run further to his right).
A better view of this play can be found at the 7:45 mark of video link in the next sentence.
Here is a Youtube video from same La Tech game that shows Masen lined up as a FB at the 5:20 minute mark near the goal line. In this play, Wake attempts to block LB Levi Bell, who is listed at same size as Wake (6’1" and 251 pounds). They collide at the goal line, Bell sheds the block quickly and makes the tackle. Allgeier still scored a TD as they collided on the goal line, but the block was not good.
Here is a 2nd video link… which is 8 minutes of RB Tyler Allgeier highlights. At the 2:57 mark of the video, Masen Wake is lined up outside the OLT as H-back. His responsibility to get to the 2nd level and block a linebacker, but he whiffs on the block.
Allgeier eluded the LB on his own to get the score.
At the 8:00 mark, Wake again lines up as a H-back, this time outside the ORT. The O-line all move to right on an inside zone run, while Wake pulls to the left to seal the back side of the play. The O-line created a huge cutback lane, and Wake pulled around thru the hole… and whiffed on his block again.
He has a few highlight plays… but I don’t see a consistent or terribly effective blocker as a FB.
I am not fan of players trying to hurdle defensive players at all.
Most the time it does not result much additional gain, and the risk of injury (particularly concussion) far outweighs the benefit.
Agreed. One of my all-time favorite Cal Bears by the name of Javid Best tried to leap a guy against Oregon State.
He was a one of a kind talent but never played the same after that landing.
Removing video. Sorry i usually try to provide confirmations of my posts. We are all heart broken about Javid and dont’ need to see that anymore.
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Can’t watch that video again… 
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Don’t remind us.
This guy impressed me.
There are some scouts that question if he can play OLT due to concern against speed rushers. That may be true, but I think he has good feet and could play ORT at a pretty good level. I noticed he occasionally stops moving his feet after initial contact with DEs, and then might reach to much to make up for it. That is coachable. On the plays he keeps his feet chopping, I didn’t see him struggle.
Level of competition has to be considered, but is not everything either.
And I think he has the strength to be a very good OG if not a OT… so still worthy of a mid round pick.
One thing I really liked about him was that he was able to get to the 2nd level and was agile enough to land blocks on quicker LBs and DBs.
Ultimately… I think the Lions will pass on OL in the draft this offseason… but I definitely noticed this guy on film.