This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star IOL Mason Short. He ranks as the nation’s No. 8 IOL and the No. 178 overall prospect for 2025 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 13 IOL and No. 223 overall.
EVANS, Ga. -- If there’s such a thing as an old-school recruit in the modern era, it would be Mason Short.
He’s now locked into a routine where he goes to bed at about 8:30 every night. Then he wakes up at five o’clock the next morning to work out.
Short is six feet and six inches tall. He weighs about 305 pounds this week. He’s at 24 percent body fat right now after gaining eight pounds of muscle in the last four months.
He’s trimmed three percent fat off that massive frame in the last six months.
Yes, this is a 17-year-old young adult male here. Short will turn 18 in May.
He’s the one who leaves his cell phone behind to go fishing. Or for quality time in the woods.
Short has even had a few training sessions with nature’s barbells that resemble the classic “Rocky IV” movie which is now 30 years old.
When coaches call or text him and ask “Are we still good?” because he left them unread, they just had to get to know Mason first.
“Aw, man,” Short would tell them. “I was just fishing.”
They were always “good” with Mason. That’s just Mason being Mason.
Let’s go back to mid-March. He was starting down the tunnel at two to three more months of his recruiting process.
The 4-star IOL prospect from Evans High School in the Metro Augusta area was set to go through the dog-and-pony show of a series of official visits.
He would see Clemson, Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio State.
Then make up his mind. Then tell the world.
But not quite two weeks ago he decided he couldn’t do it. The strapping 6-foot-6 rising senior growing up in Columbia County felt a twinge and a ping from his gut.
He knew where he had to be and who he wanted to play for.
There would be no waiting until late June or early July. There would not be a round of official visits in June.
Short was ready to cut his recruiting process, um, short.
He will share his decision at 9 a.m. school ceremony on Friday. DawgNation will stream that event live across its social platforms.
The 4-star IOL looked content on Thursday to be close to getting it all over with.
He didn’t like those photo shoots on unofficial visits. He preferred to be a fly-on-the-wall and to receive zero special treatment.
He’d rather be ignored to see what life is truly like on each campus he was closely considering.
Doesn’t that sound what a young man with a mom who has taught fifth grade to a generation would do?
His father owns a nuts-and-bolts shop in downtown Augusta. Literally.
Short is now primed to get his recruiting to its nuts-and-bolts of one school to think about. To be freed up to focus on his senior season at Evans.
Their team might even be as good as the 10-2 season he was a part of during his freshman year.
“It all came down to my pros and cons,” Short said. “I did that with my Mom. What does the school have? What does the school not have? You’re going to talk about facilities? All of these schools have top-notch facilities.”
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the coaches. The environment. The vibe. Can you see yourself wearing that jersey running down the tunnel or hill or whatever? Whatever it is you are going to run down or run up. That’s what you’ve got to think about.”
“But getting to know these coaches was key. Not just as a coach but as a person. What are they going to treat you like when we’re not recruiting? You’re getting told a lot of stuff as a recruit but everyone knows it will change the day the whistle blows to do stretch lines. You’re officially a player then.”
“So you’ve got to realize like ‘Do I want this guy to not just talk to me about football here?’ But like if I have a problem, like a personal problem, is he going to help take care of it? If he can help me handle it when my parents are not there? Is this the guy I want to handle it? Also my family. How do they feel about him?”
This decision was all relationships plus his strong Christian faith. Short’s got a special ceremony planned tomorrow that will open up with a word of prayer.
The world will see a few more personal elements with his decision tomorrow, but that’s all it makes sense to share now.
The Mason Short decision: Breaking down his Final Four
It is logical to note Short already had his bed made here once with his recruiting process. He was committed to Nick Saban at Alabama but most folks get the specifics of that one wrong.
He was committed to Nick Saban’s Alabama and also to be coached by former O-line coach Eric Wolford. That was a package fit there. That’s why when Saban shocked the college football world with his retirement news, he still did not decommit from the ‘Tide until Wolford was not retained.
Wolford is now coaching the line Kentucky. That’s why the Wildcats made his final group. It is very much an old-school way to show loyalty there.
Why are these schools in his final four? He broke them all down on Thursday.
- Clemson: “Knowing [coach Matt Luke’s] history at Georgia. This is his first year at Clemson. It is a new thing for me and it is a new thing for him. Clemson doesn’t start recruiting you until your junior year. So it is a fairly new process for me as well as it is for him. When I was going on my visits, he was still learning which way to turn left or right down the hallway. Which I love. Which I knew if he wanted me so bad he wants to start off his legacy at Clemson by coaching me. That’s what really stuck out to me and how bad he wanted me. Just not even that but coach [Dabo] Swinney. The players he puts in that program are great people. Those are guys you are going to trust on and off the field to do the right things. Ultimately, Coach Swinney and Coach Luke and that staff there are going to put you in the NFL in the best spot possible.”
- Georgia: “Probably my relationship with Coach [Stacy] Searels. We have a great bond and of course - which this narrative has been pushed down my throat since I was 15 years old - that Georgia is in my backyard of course. You know it is only an hour and a half away. And just it is Georgia. They have the history. They have the coaches. The players. They are always going to have that. Knowing that, you just can’t wrong. You know they are going to bring guy in to make you better and they expect you to make their guys better. So they are going to want to bring in guys that just help each other. Hold each other accountable. That’s one thing I love about Coach Searels. That’s how he lets his guys hold each other accountable. Not necessarily him just yelling at them 24/7. He’s going to let his guys. If you mess up on a play, he’s going to wait and second and make sure his guy will tell him that ‘Hey you did that wrong. Get it right’ and then going to Coach Smart. It’s Coach Smart. Great guy. Great coach. That’s just someone who you want to play for.”
- Kentucky: “Knowing what Coach Wolf [Wolford] can do. Ultimately, that’s what led to my decision. Not just Coach Saban, but Coach Wolf. I go by an 80/20 rule. 80 percent the offensive line coach. 20 percent the head coach. That’s who you are going to be spending the most time with is the O-line coach. Knowing what I committed to, I didn’t expect those aspects of him to leave when he left the program. I knew he was going to stay true to himself and the way he is as a person and as a coach. So I gave him an opportunity and threw Kentucky in my top four. I trust that he will be able to develop me and practice me like any of his other guys.”
- Ohio State: “The coaches there. The history of development. The linemen they have in the NFL and again, I just love [offensive line] Coach [Justin] Frye. The way he coaches. The way he is as a person. Great family. Great atmosphere. I know I’ll be pushed to be better there and get developed.”
Short said he’s probably been to Alabama, Clemson and Georgia the most on visits in his recruitment up to this point.
If Short rolls with the home state school on Friday, he would be in line to become just the second UGA signee from the immediate Augusta Metro area since 2015. That’s a unique oddity for the program given its recruiting tear under Smart and finding ’Dawgs in the state’s third-most populated region.
The Mason Short philosophy on playing offensive line can be boiled down into one simple sound bite.
“Be the meanest guy on the field,” he said. “But the nicest guy off of it.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
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