The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Mason-Young said the offer from Tennessee “wasn’t out of the blue.” But it was a big deal to the Memphis-area native, who said the Vols were one of the teams he grew up liking.
“They had showed interest in me, like, a month ago,” he said. “They just told my coach they really liked me, and they were just really generous in offering me today. I was very excited.
“I was on the phone with one of the recruiter coaches. They just said they liked my explosiveness off the ball, and they just told me they liked me. They said my coach had nothing but good things to say about me, and they were really generous in offering me.
“I’ll heavily consider them going forward.”
Mason-Young, who’s a two-way player at Covington, said Tennessee indicated that it’s recruiting him to play cornerback.
He said he’s excited about the opportunity to play at his home-state school, and he’s looking forward to taking a closer look at the Vols sometime in June.
“I was born in Memphis, but I’ve been raised in Covington my whole life,” Mason-Young said. “I liked Tennessee growing up because of (former Vols cornerback) Inky Johnson and his inspirational videos and how he carries himself. I (also) like Clemson, but I’ll take any offer.
“I like Tennessee right now because that’s my first offer, and I’m really excited to see what they’ve got to offer and what I can offer them. It was just out of the blue when they had told me they liked me. But I’ve been liking them all my life because I’ve been born and raised in Tennessee. I’ve always been a Tennessee fan.”
While Mason-Young also plays running back, he said the Vols liked his defensive film from his sophomore season and currently envision playing him in the secondary. He claims to have been timed at 4.58 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
“They told me corner. They’re recruiting me at corner,” he said.