Ben(ch) Mason Appreciation w/ Quotes from Players/Coaches

Ben ‘Bench’ Mason is a remarkable human being.  And I use the term ‘human being’ liberally, as he is seemingly more machine than human.  We have all seen the footage of him obliterating linebackers with little regard for human life.  We have also seen him demonstrate that stopping him short of the line scrimmage has been proven scientifically to be physically impossible. He has 12 career carries at Michigan, and 6 of them are touchdowns.  Yet his on the field exploits are only part of what make him so fascinating.

Checkout the following quotes from other players and teammates:

“He wants to bludgeon people and do it really fast and he’s relentless.  Just smash everything.”                -Jay Harbaugh

“He puts everything he has into every single play.”          - Ben Bredeson

“He’s a big boy. He’s just a bull.”   -Chase Winovich

 “He’s an interesting guy. He is a meatball, meathead type guy. He likes benching and eating raw meat. He’s a physical guy. He goes 100% every play. He’s just looking to take off heads.”         -Patrick Kugler

“He’s a wrecking ball. He is a complete animal, the complete package. A lot of times, you’ve got to tell Ben to calm down. He’s one of those guys where it’s like, ‘holy cow!’ Every play? Are you kidding me? Every play?”  -Karan Higdon

“He’s either destroying them or he is going to whip on them.”   -Jon Runyan

 “Obviously, I’m into the hair scene. He disagrees on what his hairstyle actually is because a true mohawk goes all the way to the back, but his stops in the middle. Is it a faux hawk? Is it a mohawk? Is it half of a mohawk?. Is it a fade?  There’s a lot of options on the table for him.”       -Chase Winovich

“Definitely a guy I’m very happy he is on my team and I don’t have to line up across the ball and go head-to-head against him.”      -Shea Patterson

“I think this guy was just made to be a fullback.”-Coach Jim Harbaugh

And then some quotes from Bench himself:

 “I always try to play with a controlled rage.”

On Bench press: “The most I ever did for max was 440 pounds in high school.”

How many times can he lifts 225 pounds in a row? “30 reps”

“The weight room is just a supplement to all other things.”

On Dylan McCaffrey lowering his shoulder against the defender at the end of his run, “When you just said that, I literally got chills all the way down my body.  You want to have someone who’s physical and ready to put their shoulder down for the team and do anything that it takes to win.”

On discovering that his nickname Bench Mason was used on the broadcast, “Awesome, thank you.”

Ben Mason is an incredible football player, and one that is an absolute pleasure to watch. He is also one of the most focused individuals you will ever observe. We are very lucky to have him on this team. And we get to watch him for another 2-1/2 full seasons. This is going to be fun.