Featured photo by Calvin White
Story by Calvin White
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MURFREESBORO, Tenn– First-year Middle Tennessee head football coach Derek Mason’s first spring game and MTSU’s first spring game since 2015 concluded with a 20-7 victory by the blue team over the white team inside the confines of Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium. When Mason was hired as head coach back on Dec. 6, he said that he wanted MTSU to be known as a physical, tough and intelligent team. Through 15 spring practices, the Blue Raiders have figured out they need to bring their hard hats and lunch pails every single day.
“I think guys were settling into the idea that physicality was going to be a part of what we do every day,” Mason said of the first couple of spring practices. “Besides our first couple of practices that were acclamation practices, every day there was a physical component, in pads, of what we did and I think that allowed us to understand that what we do up front on offense and defense was going to lead this football team where we want to go because it’s a line-of-scrimmage-game.”
The Blue Raiders discovered what Mason was all about when they had to report to the practice field for spring practice before the sun was even up most days. Mason stood in the middle of the field underneath the practice field lights sending orders out through his giant megaphone promptly after a blow of the whistle hanging from his neck.
The product of those 15 spring practices, albeit only April, was put on display Saturday afternoon in the spring game. Redshirt junior and returning starting quarterback Nicholas Vattiato was surgical, completing 15-of-16 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown while splitting drives with backup quarterback Kyle Lowe. MTSU’s new and improved beefy offensive line showed improvement from last season’s unit, providing a nice mix of run and pass protection. Vattiato had time to work through progressions and the running backs had gaps to burst through for some nice gains.
After running an air raid-type offense under former head coach Rick Stockstill and offensive coordinator Mitch Stewart for the last couple of seasons, Mason and first-year offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder have implemented a more mixed approach on offense, highlighting the run and pass game.
“Discipline and toughness were the areas of emphasis,” Mason said. “We’re just going to play a different style of ball. Air raid can be physical but we wanted to play a different style of ball.”
“I think since day one to the end of the spring game, we’ve seen so much growth and so much progress in the run game, pass game and play-action game,” Vattiato said of MTSU’s new offense. “We’ve started to see players grow into their own in this offense and become more comfortable.”
Derek Mason has established a new culture and identity in just four months as MTSU’s head coach. These new traits will be put to the test when the fall rolls around and four of the Blue Raiders’ first five games come against Ole Miss, Western Kentucky, Duke and Memphis.
Players have bought into Mason’s new ideology. Creating continuity with each other and Mason has allowed returnees from last season’s team which was led by Stockstill to blend nicely with players who are experiencing their first season in Murfreesboro. MTSU fans have long been waiting for a team on the gridiron that can wash away the apathy felt by most of the Blue Raider faithful and Mason and his staff are well on their way to giving the fans what they want.
He hasn’t coached an official game as MTSU’s head coach yet, but Derek Mason and MTSU’s identity shift has given new life to the program and a reason to believe that the Blue Raiders will be competitive in year one of the Derek Mason era.
Calvin White is the sports editor for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
