Mason Randall says he'd like to be a college football coach someday and he seems to have the head for it. But maybe not so much of a future as a fashionista.
Randall is the Sacred Heart Prep junior quarterback -- 158.1 quarterback rating, 3.3 grade point average, NorCal title ring on his dresser. He completes 67 percent of his passes, has thrown for 1,265 yards with 11 touchdowns and one interception. In short, he's good.
Sartorially speaking, the young man's a work in progress, said father Jeff Randall, an attorney who took Mason shopping in San Francisco in anticipation of his 17th birthday, which is today.
"He's happy in tennis shoes and T-shirts and I just wanted him to take one step up -- not to dress clothes, but to just something a little nicer," Jeff said. "I just don't want him to be a complete jock; I want him to dress like a young man. Hoodies can only go so far."
So J.Crew, True Religion, Nordstrom's, Banana Republic -- the Randalls hit them all and maybe a few more. But to Mason the experience was akin to a root canal, a when-is-it-over ordeal worse than the SAT.
"I just wanted to have a nice time with my son for his birthday and he just wanted to walk into places and turn around and walk out," Jeff said. "He thought he could scan the store in a few minutes and decide if he wanted to be there. I was telling him 'C'mon Mason, at least look at some stuff."
As one might imagine, the attorney won out.
"He needed shoes and I told him black and brown and he said 'C'mon dad.'" Jeff said. "I told him, "Mason, you need to diversify. So he got some coffee-colored Topsiders. Then he got some blue ones and he said 'How's THAT for diversification?"
Classic. If the kid doesn't become the next Nick Saban, then maybe Perry Mason.
Right now Mason is content as a high school student and crack football and basketball player. Last year, as a sophomore, he helped tiny Sacred Heart Prep to a NorCal Division III title and a CIF-State playoff bowl title game. This year he's aided the Gators to an 8-0 record (3-0 in the PAL-Bay) headed into the 7 p.m. showdown Friday against host Burlingame (8-0, 4-0).
"They're a very good team," said Mason, a typical teen who likes to chill at the beach with friends. "They're similar to some opponents we've played but we know it's going to be a tough game for sure."
Fashion-wise, Mason may not know a Windsor knot from the band Slipknot, but he knows the two-minute drill. Just ask Salinas.
Against the Cowboys in a 27-21 Gator home win, he completed 10 of 11 passes on a 99-yard drive in the last two minutes. The march was capped by a 1-yard pass on a slant pattern to one of his best buds, Nick O'Donnell.
"That was crazy," Mason said. "Guys were getting open and all I had to do was get them the ball. Andrew Daschbach made a few great catches and our receivers knew to get out of bounds. We work on it every day in practice. Our line did a great job and Coach Lav (Pete Lavorato) called some great plays."
During a time out, Lavorato told Mason not to get tackled in bounds, to throw the ball away if nothing was there.
"I hit Nick on the slant," Mason said. "He's one of my best friends who I worked with all summer."
Said Lavorato: "Mason is a special young man. He is cool, calm, and collected. Reminds me of James Dean. Whatever happens he is able to let it go and focus on the next play."
Up in the stands that day, Oregon native and Menlo Park resident Jeff Randall beamed with pride. He'd seen it all before, tossing passes on the beach when Mason was just a pup, then later catching spirals from his precocious son who now stands a lean 6-foot-2.
"He was relentless as a little boy," Jeff said. "It was always third-and-15 or fourth-and-10 -- we did a lot of fourth downs. "He'd go on a post pattern or a fly and I'd throw him the ball. We'd be in Hawaii or Mexico in the heat and humidity and he didn't want to quit."
Father and son imagined it all, like a seer peering into a crystal ball. It was always dad's alma mater Oregon against USC or Alabama. Always the fourth quarter, final drive, game on the line.
"Mason has always just loved the pressure, whether he was playing football, or taking the last shot in basketball or on the mound in baseball," said Jeff a three-sport star in high school.
Reluctant clothes horse or not, the kid in the Topsiders doesn't wilt. He felt the heat last season against the Pacific Groves and El Cerritos, and delivered. There's no reason to think Burlingame will be any different, even if the Gators do come up short.
"Playing in big games last year helps me stay poised now," Mason said. "I get in a tough situation like Salinas and I just say 'Oh this is nothing compared to last year.'"
John Murphy is Web Content Manager of Prep2Prep. Follow him on Twitter @PrepCat
