The Mason Knighton Story
“Coach, I want to play at the highest level and I want to be the best.”
Those words came out of a 9th graders mouth in November of 2014.
I first became this athletes coach when he was entering the 8th grade. He was a scrawny kid who lifted in the farthest station – a typical move if the athlete does not want to be noticed.
We went through two summer programs before his freshman year and, to be honest, I probably only heard him say five words in that time.
Needless to say, I didn’t know him well, but the little I knew about him told me everything I needed to know.
What I knew was simple - He was willing to work hard.
Upon the completion of his 9th grade football season I received a call from his step father asking to meet with me. In this meeting, I sat across from a shy kid who told me “Coach, I want to play at the highest level and I want to be the best”.
Starting that moment Mason Knighton slammed his foot on the gas and never looked back.
He drove the 45 minutes each way to my facility 4-5 times per week to train. He ate like an athlete and took care of his academics.
He has added over 50 pounds of lean mass and is now 6’5 250lbs.
Mason has never had a day where he did not give 110%. Every day he shows up, works his butt off, and never complained. No matter how hard the training sessions were he never backed down…
…and, believe me, we have had some challenging training sessions.
Rain or shine we ran hills. He did two sessions per day over the summers and directly after each season he got back in the gym full-time as fast as I would let him.
All this work has paid off. Earlier this month, on national signing day, he signed his letter of intent to play football at the Division 1 level at the University of Northern Colorado.
I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to watch Mason develop over the past four years. I have spent the last 10 years or my life coaching high school aged athletes in the strength and conditioning setting and, in those 10 years, I have seen countless young athletes make the transition from high school athletics to the collegiate level.
It is not an exaggeration to say that I have not yet seen a young man with such a high level of intrinsic motivation and a tireless dedication to the pursuit of his goals.
Mason Knighton has become a leader, a great student, a role model, and earned himself the opportunity to attend a great university as a student athlete. He is the type of athlete that every coach loves to work with.
I am proud to consider him family and I have full confidence that he will be successful in whatever he sets his intentions on.
You see, he understands this…
If you have a dream and you give everything you have in the pursuit of achieving it you are guaranteed to land on top.
