Pitt Football: Dan Mason’s Long Road Back Gives Panthers Big Lift
By Matt Shetler
It was almost two full years ago when the Pitt Panthers were extremely excited about the possibilities that middle linebacker Dan Mason brought to the team.
Mason grabbed the starting middle linebacker job and showed true promise as a tackling machine, whose motor never stopped. He was someone the opposition had to deal with from sideline to sideline.
Then it happened.
The gruesome knee injury Mason suffered while making a tackle on Miami wide receiver LaRon Byrd during a nationally televised game in September 2010 was almost too much to watch. Mason’s teammates couldn’t even look as he lay in pain on the field.
The result of that one play turned out to be more than anyone in a Pitt uniform could have ever imagined: a dislocated knee cap, torn ligaments and nerve damage.
The image of that play and the following diagnosis could be enough for the normal player to hang up the cleats.
However, Mason’s not a normal player. He wouldn’t allow that day to be the end of his football career, despite the doctors telling him he would likely never play the game again.
Instead, he underwent five surgeries and an insane amount of rehab and was running only eight months after the injury, eventually returning to the practice field last season. Though he wasn’t deemed healthy enough to play last season, Mason did get some work in with the scout team, which went a long way to getting himself back in football shape.
Fast forward to today and Mason has continued the long journey back. He’s at full speed and has began taking reps again with the Panthers’ first-team defense.
When Mason runs out of that tunnel on opening day, it will be a lift for the Panthers. If he’s able to put the work in to make it back after two years, there’s no reason why everyone wearing a Panthers uniform can’t put the same effort into making Pitt a better team.
He will serve as a leader of the defense and his playmaking ability will be welcomed back with open arms.
The story of Mason’s return to action is a good one. It’s a story whose ending has yet to be written. Mason’s hard work has allowed him to write his own ending.
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