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00:00How excited are you to become a Jaguar?
00:03Man, first and foremost, man, I'm really excited.
00:07You know, I feel like for me, man,
00:09that's honestly, I don't think it could have been,
00:12it could have ended up any better, man.
00:15You know, not too far from home, very, very warm.
00:20A lot of things that I'm very much so used to.
00:24And you know, just, I had a great visit
00:26with the defensive coordinator
00:27and the defensive line coach, man.
00:30You know, I actually had a relationship
00:32with the defensive line coach prior
00:34when he was at Vanderbilt University
00:36when I was coming through high school, man.
00:37So they always, you know, from the jump,
00:42from the jump of the conversations that we had, man,
00:45they was just real.
00:46And you know, for me,
00:48I just like to have realists around me, man,
00:50just people that's not gonna shy away
00:51from telling me what I need to hear
00:53instead of what I want to hear, man.
00:54And I, you know, a lot of guys run from that, man,
00:57and I run to it.
00:58So just being able to, you know, get that feel from them,
01:02and them also have a lot of confidence in me
01:05and the abilities that I bring to the game, man.
01:07And you know, my defensive coordinator is also there
01:10from this past year at Madhouse, man.
01:12So, and that's my guy, been my guy since he got to LSU.
01:16And I'm just fortunate enough to be able to be around him
01:19and my dog, BT, man.
01:21We gon' rock the world and we gon' do what we gotta do.
01:24So obviously you came back from the ACL injury.
01:28Do you feel like now you're fully 100%?
01:30I definitely will say this is the best I've felt
01:34since my knee injury, man.
01:36You know, I felt like through the pro day
01:37and the combine testing and everything like that,
01:39people being able to see me move, you know,
01:42I felt like it showed that I didn't miss a beat.
01:46And man, it was tough for me coming back this year,
01:49you know, not necessarily playing the way I know I can
01:52and up to my ability, man.
01:54And, you know, just being able to take the coaching
01:57and take the constructive criticism, man,
01:58and continue to progress and get better
02:00every single week, man.
02:01I think, you know, coming into this next chapter
02:03in my life, man, I'm just gonna continue to excel
02:07and continue to grow in the right direction.
02:10How much is your, of your best footballs in front of you,
02:13given the injury situation at LSU?
02:17I think my best football is yet to come.
02:19I think, like I said, man,
02:21just continue to progress and excel, you know,
02:24cause I'm a physical freak, man, I'm a specimen.
02:27So just being able to be, for me, man,
02:29I always thought it was consistency
02:31and with consistent coaching comes consistent play.
02:34And I think that's one thing that I lacked in college
02:36was having that consistent coaching, man.
02:38So I know when I get into the building, man,
02:41and get that consistent coaching, I've been need, man,
02:43and I feel like the sky's the limit.
02:45My best ball is ahead of me, man,
02:47and I can't wait to reach that point.
02:48For you, how much is there a chip on your shoulder?
02:51Ever since my injury,
02:52there has been a bigger chip on my shoulder.
02:55Even in the game now and, you know,
02:57even going into the draft, man,
02:59I feel like a lot of people were unsure about me.
03:03And, you know, I feel like I got a lot of questions
03:07about if I love ball and things of that nature.
03:10And, you know, I bust my ass every single day,
03:14just like anybody else.
03:15And I put my cleats on the same way,
03:17put my shoulder pads on the same way, man.
03:19And, you know, when somebody asks you that,
03:22it's kind of a hit to your character
03:23just because I'm a high-character kid.
03:26So, you know, I put my all on the field when I'm out there.
03:30And, you know,
03:32it definitely has given me a chip on my shoulder.
03:34You know, I know everybody has one in front of me.
03:37And we're going to stack up the chips
03:39when it's time to stack them up, man.
03:41But at the end of the day, I'm grateful for the opportunity
03:44that I'm getting to have with this amazing franchise
03:48and the great people around it.
03:49And like I said, I'm going to continue to keep progressing
03:53and keep growing, and the sky's the limit.
03:55What went through your mind
03:56when you first got that phone call?
03:59Just excitement, man.
04:00Like, you know, when you...
04:04I've been dreaming about this since I was six years old,
04:06my man, so, you know,
04:08just being able to live that dream out, man.
04:11And, you know, I told my mom, I told her yesterday,
04:14I was like, mine's different when your dreams
04:16staring you right in your face.
04:18And like I said before, man,
04:21I couldn't, I couldn't...
04:23When I got that call and it said Jacksonville,
04:26my heart just dropped,
04:27because I don't think there's a better situation
04:30for me to go to, man, honestly.
04:33You know, I think that God always has a plan.
04:36And, you know, I preach about something,
04:38one thing, uncommon favor.
04:41And man, just sticking to that and believing in that, man,
04:44that God going to put me in the place I need to be.
04:46And he did.
04:48And I'm just grateful for this opportunity, man.
04:51But it was definitely the best day of my life
04:56up to this point, man.
04:58And you wore that zero at LSU.
05:00Is the plan to wear that in the NFL?
05:03Man, we'll definitely see.
05:05You know, I don't know about the rules and everything.
05:09I was hoping to go back to that old number
05:11that I had in high school.
05:14Bring back the high school me.
05:18What number was your high school number?
05:2194.
05:24I don't know if anybody got it.
05:25I never checked anything, but that might be some.
05:28Curious, where did the extra A come from?
05:32You know, I wish I could give my mom in the room with me,
05:35but I honestly don't know, man.
05:37I've asked the question,
05:40because I've gotten the question plenty of times, man.
05:43You know, I think it was just attested to by dad.
05:48So when I was being birthed by my mother,
05:51my dad, she had a coworker that was pregnant,
05:54and she was naming her son Mason as well.
05:57And my pops didn't necessarily like, you know,
06:02the other dad.
06:03So, and you know, my older brother's name
06:05is Malcolm II, and my pop's name is Malcolm.
06:09So, you know, my dad told my mom,
06:12if you're gonna name my son Mason,
06:14then you gotta change it.
06:16It can't be spelled like him.
06:18Ultimately, that's where the double A come in.
06:21It's very unique.
06:22I've never seen it in any place else, man.
06:25A lot of people honestly think it's a typo
06:27when they see it, but it ain't a typo.