Safety Prospect Matthew Mason Previews BYU Official Visit

The BYU football program is entering the two most important recruiting months of the year. One recruit that recently picked up a BYU offer is Nevada native Matthew Mason. Mason, a three-star safety, locked in a BYU official visit shortly after getting an offer. Mason will be at BYU from June 12th to June 15th.

We caught up with Mason to preview his BYU official visit and get an update on his recruitment.

Mason holds over 20 scholarship offers and he was beginning to narrow in on his finalists when BYU entered the picture. Prior to last week, Mason was planning on taking an official visit to Washington State from June 13-15. After a change in his plans, he will be at BYU.

While the scholarship offer is new, his relationship with BYU is not. "I’ve been in touch with BYU since January, so it felt great to finally get to see Coach Hill in person and get the offer."

His familiarity with BYU dates back to 2021 when he attended a BYU game at Lavell Edwards Stadium. "I got to come out to a game back in 2021 I think when they played against USF," Mason said. "The atmosphere was amazing. But obviously that comes from a great winning culture, and Coach Sitake and a lot of the staff has been at BYU for a while now so it shows the stability in the program."

Mason holds competing offers from the likes of Arizona State, Northwestern, Boise State, Utah State, Oregon State, San Diego State, and UNLV among others. Mason's recruitment really accelerated after a standout season in 2024. He went into the 2024 season with no offers. The, he tallied over 100 tackles, 5 forced fumbles, 18 pass breakups, 10 tackles for loss, 3 blocked kicks, and 2 interceptions.

His standout 2024 season led to his first offer in January from Utah State, and a long list of schools have entered the picture in the last four months.

JUNIOR SZN-
6’3 175 ATH 4.5 LASER 40

STATS-
102 TACKLES
72 SOLO
5 FF
3 BLOCKED KICKS
18 PBU
2 INT
10 TFL@FL_Ftball @KyleMorgan_XOS @trevon2221 @phase1football @PrepRedzoneNV @almaliknj https://t.co/tk7Fl4QgPb
— Matthew Mason (@Matthew_Mason8) November 28, 2024

BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill has been the primary recruiter in Mason's recruitment and he has made quite the impression. "Coach Hill is probably the biggest reason for my interest in BYU right now," Mason told BYU On SI. "Once we first talked and he told me the visions he has for me as a player and how much I can already see he cares about me. I already trust him a lot, and I know when he offers someone he’s all in on them so that means a lot to me."

On what Hill likes about his game, Mason said, "Coach Hill and Coach Fowler have both said how they just love the way I play the game. Flying around the field with my speed and physicality especially at my size, and how I can do many different things on the field whether it’s playing in the post, deep middle, blitzing, man coverage, whatever it is. He can see how I can do it and how my traits will translate to the next level both in college and eventually putting me in the NFL."

Mason is expected to have a busy couple of months before he makes his college decision. He will take his official visits in May and June before he announces his college decision on July 4th.

On what he is hoping to accomplish on his BYU official visit, Mason said, "On my OV I’m hoping to see what BYU’s plan for me in the program is and how it would translate to me getting to the NFL. Then just building more of a relationship with all of the coaches and seeing if it’s the right fit for me in the program and at the school."