Player Spotlight: Tre Mason

With the addition of  running back Todd Gurley in 2015 NFL draft, second year running back Tre Mason has been looked at as if he isn’t capable of leading the St. Louis Rams.

Mason proved in his rookie season in 2014 that he is perfectly capable of putting up big numbers as a running back in the NFL.

Mason averaged 4.3 yards per carry as a rookie, which amounted to 765 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

After being ranked as the 8th best running back according to www.profootballfocus.com in their post-draft edition, Mason finished second among rookies in rushing yards and led the rookie class with the longest rush of 89 yards.

But, this is nothing new for Mason, as he dominated competition while playing for the Auburn Tigers in college. In his third year at Auburn in 2013, Mason compiled 1,816 yards and 23 touchdowns. Mason helped lead the Tigers to the 2013 BCS National Championship game and rushed for 195 yards on 34 carries and a touchdown in their 34-31 loss to the Florida State Seminoles.

1,816 rushing yards set the school record previously set by none other than Bo Jackson who rushed for 1,786 in 1985. For his outstanding season, Mason was one of the six finalists for the 2013 Heisman Trophy before electing to enter the 2014 NFL draft.

But, now Mason has another competitor to compete with by the name of Gurley. It is not clear if Gurley will be ready to play in week one, so this could be a very important few months for Mason. When healthy, Mason and Gurley might just be the best one-two punch in the NFL. Both Gurley and Mason are more than capable of eclipsing the 1,000 yard mark and will make defenses very nervous every time they see either one of them step out onto the field.

Mason is just 21 years old, so for people to already say this is Gurley’s job to lose are crazy. Mason has already proven that he belongs in the NFL, while Gurley is recovering from a nasty ACL injury. But either way, this is a great problem for the Rams to have.