The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Streaks’ McKenrick has come a long way
JCU All-American linebacker was once a 135-pound high school freshman
There isn’t much Mason McKenrick can’t do on the football field.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder is a force at linebacker for John Carroll.
He attacks the quarterback off the edge with speed and force most offensive linemen can’t handle.
In pass coverage, he has the agility to blanket opposing targets from sideline to sideline.
When he gets his oversized hands on a ballcarrier, it’s game over.
The Mentor graduate is the ultimate defensive player.
When the No. 8-ranked Blue Streaks open their season Sept. 2 at Don Shula Stadium against the only team to beat them in 2016 — No. 4-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh — eyes should be on McKenrick.
He’ll likely be the best player on the field.
He might be the best player in the nation in Division III this season.
It wasn’t always this way for McKenrick.
Growing up as a youth football player, there was success but also confusion and frustration. At times, he felt as if his body was playing tricks on him.
When his friends and teammates were experiencing growth spurts, he wasn’t.
As a seventh- and eighthgrader, he was 5-foot-7, 135 pounds. For two years, he didn’t gain an inch or a pound.
There was a time when he thought his football career was over.
Those times are gone. McKenrick made up for lost time in a hurry.
This is a story about a mega talented football player who was a late bloomer.
This is a story about a 135-pound Mentor freshman who blossomed into a college All-American seven years later.
The scary part for John Carroll opponents? McKenrick might still be growing.
Last season, he was a first-team Division III AllAmerica pick as a junior, but as a senior in 2017 the best might still be to come.
Looking for answers
For as long as he can remember, McKenrick has always had a love affair with sports, but mostly football.
That’s what his mother Ellen tells him.
“I swear from birth, his first words were football and baseball,” she said. “He constantly wanted to be involved in the action of sports.”
It probably didn’t hurt that McKenrick’s father Pat was a lifelong football coach with stints as head coach at Kirtland and Riverside.
McKenrick was all in at age 9, the year he began playing football.
He excelled in fourth, fifth and sixth grade, but during those years his father, who was serving as a Mentor youth coach, noticed a difference in his son.
“It was in the huddle,” said Pat. “His eyes would get really wide.”
At age 11, doctors diagnosed Mason as a Type 1 diabetic. According to diabetes.org, only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease.
“At that point, he thought life was over, and he couldn’t play sports and the things he normally did as a kid,” said Ellen.
Life wasn’t over for Mason. His father researched and showed his son examples of professional athletes with diabetes.
Mov ing for wa rd , a change in lifestyle was necessary, and the pitch from his parents was this:
“This is your new normal,” said Pat.
Initially, Mason was injected with insulin using syringes, but that was later replaced with a pump.
Something still wasn’t right. The McKenrick family followed doctor’s instructions but Mason’s blood-sugar levels were a struggle to control.
“He would hit a super low where he couldn’t function, and then he was so high that he couldn’t focus,” said Ellen. “That was a big puzzle. The doctors couldn’t understand why.”
Then at 12, he was diagnosed with celiac disease. Those with the disease, a side effect of diabetes, are allergic to gluten.
The good news for Mason was he did not need medication to control the disease. As long as he avoided wheat protein, he was in the clear. That, and a new mind set made all the difference.
“There was no reason to be upset or angry about it,” said Mason. “If I wanted to do things with my life, I had to accept it.”
From that point, the old Mason McKenrick began to morph into a new Mason McKenrick. Suddenly, he grew. Suddenly, he gained weight.
The people around him couldn’t believe it.
A different player
“Believe it or not, there was time in high school when Mason and I were the same height,” said Mentor grad and former JCU teammate Reese Armstrong.
That was when Armstrong was a 5-foot-7 junior defensive back for the Cardinals. Mason was a 5-7 sophomore still adding weight and muscle and growing. They became friends during Mason’s sophomore season.
“Then the next summer, I see Mason and he’s 6-1,” said Armstrong, a standout safety for JCU in 2015 and 2016 at about 5-8, 175 pounds. “I was like, ‘What the heck is this?’ ”
It took a while, but with his conditions under control, a major growth spurt ensued. Doctors have told Mason he’s still growing.
“Every time I see him now, he looks taller and thicker,” said Armstrong, who earned his JCU degree last spring and is taking graduate courses. “Seeing him from
his senior year in high school to now, he looks like a completely different person.”
Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno said controlling Mason’s conditions was “really difficult” as times, but the payoff when it happened was enormous.
“He just absolutely took off,” said Trivisonno.
Another setback
Mason’s first two years at Mentor weren’t eventful.
“(As a freshman), it mostly mop-up time late in the games,” said Pat.
Mason was down as a football player. Teammates such as Tom Strobel, Brandon Fritts and Mitchell Trubisky were growing into star players and getting bigtime Division I looks. It wasn’t happening for Mason.
Frustration was setting in, and football wasn’t as fun. Mason was ready to call it a football career after his freshman season.
“We met with (Coach Trivisonno) and he told him, ‘Mason, stick with it in 10th grade, and make a decision after that.’ ” said Pat.
His sophomore season was pretty much the same as his freshman.
“We thought he might hang it up, but he stuck with it and became very dedicated in the weight room.”
Mason also worked with his mother, who at the time was the sprints coach at Mentor High School. Together, they worked on improving Mason’s speed.
His body finally caught up with his determination. Mason grew three inches and gained 40 pounds.
By the time he was a senior, he checked in at 6-3, 195 pounds. As a junior, though, he suffered a hip injury. Before the injury, Mason was having a solid season as a defensive back, and getting a look from Ohio University.
The hip injury derailed the interest from the Bobcats.
As a senior, he switched to linebacker, played well and was intent on playing in college, but recruiters weren’t exactly knocking down the door.
Finding a home
The hip injury as a high school junior was a setback in the recruiting process, but Armstrong made a JCU pitch to McKenrick.
“I talked to him one-on-one, and told him, ‘Come here if you want to,’ ” said Armstrong. “Don’t come here because I want you to, or because anyone else does.”
The pitch worked. McKenrick was on his way to JCU.
“When I saw him play early on, I knew right away he would be a difference-maker for us,” said Armstrong.
Making his mark
McKenrick started nine games as a JCU sophomore, and finished fourth on the team in tackles.
It was obvious he would be a staple of the defense when he became an upperclassman.
That came to fruition last season as a junior, when he was named the D3football. com North Regional Defensive Player of the Year, and a firstteam D-III All-America pick.
“You can’t be satisfied, because there’s always room for improvement,” said McKenrick, who had 96 tackles and six sacks a year ago.
Former JCU defensive coordinator and Perry grad Brandon Staley said McKenrick is a rare breed of player.
“What separates him from others is his versatility,” said Staley, now the outside linebackers coach with the Chicago Bears. “He can diagnose and anticipate plays as a signal caller. No one was asked to do more on our defense mentally and physically.”
Junior defensive end Ray Brown — like McKenrick, a preseason D3football.com All-America pick — said he follows his teammate’s lead.
“With him, it’s the hard work and dedication,” said Brown. “I’m learning from Mason every day.”
Said fellow JCU linebacker Anthony Christopher of Lake Catholic: “He makes my life (as a linebacker) so much easier. He’s a 6-4 freak. Him out there, he’s big, he’s fast, he’s longer than most linemen. For some of the things, I mess up, he’ll make up for me.
“He’s really evolved over the years.”
Moving forward
Mason turned 21 last December.
Ellen received a phone call from her son with a message.
“He said, ‘I’m celebrating my 10-year anniversary.’ I said, ‘Of what?’ He said, “Ten years of being a diabetic.’ ”
This is Mason’s new normal. Long ago, he accepted it, and said that change has helped in all aspects of his life.
He’s hoping that helps him get a shot at the next level of football because he’s not ready to hang up his cleats after 2017.
For now, just one thing is on his mind in 2017: Help get the Blue Streaks to the Division III national championship game.
All of that seemed cloudy at best 10 years ago, but that’s in the past. For Mason, the future is bright.
“He’s so much better with it now, and he’s accepted it,” said Ellen. “He’s on a good path now.”