A standout running back at Calvary Christian School in Columbus, Ga., Jayden Mason has become one of the nation’s leading rushers. There’s more to his story than just statistics.

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By Daniel Schmidt

Nov. 1, 2022

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COLUMBUS, Ga. – It was the middle of Covid-19. Jayden Mason felt isolated and frustrated, separated from his classmates and in an athletic program that was not invested in his success.

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Without much hope, Mason could not shake the feeling that his dreams of success on the football field and basketball court would never come to fruition.

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Two years later, Mason is now a standout running back at Calvary Christian, a modest, self-described “blue-collar” private school in Columbus, Ga., of around 750 K3 through 12th-grade students. He has been one of the best in the nation for the better part of two months, near the top of rushing charts and churning out Herculean effort after Herculean effort.

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Yet it was never guaranteed he would end up at Calvary; if anything, his enrollment was an answered prayer.

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"I prayed before I came here. I was praying ‘this should be a turning point in my life,’ because my first two years of high school was rough. I didn't think I would be here right now," Mason said. "So God, he answered my prayers. He answered my prayers of being in a different environment."

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While enrolled at crosstown public high school Jordan Vocational, Mason found academics and athletics difficult to succeed at.

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The hour-and-a-half-long Zoom classes he struggled through during the height of the pandemic offered little academic support. An emphasis on occupational training also meant that required standardized tests such as the ACT were rarely discussed. College seemed a distant dream.

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On the field and court, things were not any better. In fact, they may have been worse.

Slated to play linebacker and edge rusher after spending his middle school years as a tight end, Mason rarely saw the field. He recalled being the least-depended-on player at Jordan at both football and basketball.

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“I thought I wasn't gonna be anything at football. I just couldn't fit with the program,” Mason said. “I wasn't depended on. I wasn't motivated to play college sports at Jordan because I thought it wasn't going anywhere."

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And for a while, it appeared that would be the case. But at Calvary, that has never mattered.

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Marty Durden, the Knights’ athletic director, offered a blunt assessment of Mason: “I’ve never had one like him, and I’ve been doing this for 48 years.”

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A special player

Statistically, Mason is virtually unmatched.

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Before breaking his forearm early in the Oct. 7 matchup against Creekside Christian Academy, he had rushed for 2,004 yards and 29 touchdowns on 224 carries across seven games, good for 286 yards per game and 8.9 yards per carry according to MaxPreps.

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At the time, only two players in the country claimed more total rushing yards and yards per game. As the focal point of Calvary’s offensive game plan, to say he has played an important role in the Knights’ success would be an understatement.

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“We wouldn’t have won half the games that we did if we didn’t have him,” Durden admitted.

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On the field, Mason's running style reveals how he accumulated such gaudy numbers. A vicious plant of the foot here. A drop of the shoulder and a shimmy to force a missed tackle there. An authoritative cut towards the sideline. And then the bruising tailback is dashing toward the end zone.

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While there have been nearly too many big plays to choose from, there are a few that stand out. Primarily his late-game heroics on two plays during a 52-44 overtime victory over Lanier Christian Academy earlier this season.

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"It was 4th and 12. I had a seam [route], so I ran straight up the middle. Nate Osborne threw the ball up, and I caught it. It was one of the best catches I ever made in my life," Mason said. "And that really was the turning point in the game. It felt great. Felt like I was the man," he added with a sheepish grin.

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In overtime, he would seal the deal with an unforgettable run.

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"When overtime started, on the first play, we were at the 15-yard-line. I think it [the play] was power right,” Mason said. “I broke like five tackles and scored a touchdown. And that was the moment I felt like I could do anything. My adrenaline was pumping, I was ready to go again."

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Despite dominating his GAPPS AA competition to the tune of more than 3,400 career yards, Mason has yet to receive a single collegiate football offer. Standing at 5’11” and a pregame meal of Shane’s Rib Shack chicken tenders away from 200 pounds, physical stature was not the problem. Neither was his speed with a reported 4.6-second 40-yard dash.

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While other players across the state had the opportunity to appear before scouts at collegiate camps and private showcase events, Mason did not.

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During those first two years of his prep career at Jordan, he received little exposure. And with that, no offers to play at the next level.

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Destined for success

Before ever seriously playing football, the foundation upon which Mason’s current success is built was laid by his grandmother, Hollie Mason.

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While his pregame routine includes listening to his favorite music, Mason prays to God and channels her spirit to prepare himself for the task ahead. And Mason could not have it any other way.

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“I play the game for my grandma because she was with me all through my life,” Mason said. “I never told the coaches anything like this, but everything I do to maybe be successful, I play through my grandma. I do everything through my grandma. I think about what she did for me. I pray about it and just go out and play ball every day.”

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Her influence over Mason has remained through the years, and first manifested itself in a dream he said he had the night before she passed away due to lung complications.

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“It started sixth grade. My grandma, she was sick. I didn't know that she was going to pass anytime soon. I remember the day before she passed, I had a dream. I remember walking to her room. She was laying on her bed. She had a oxygen tank because her lungs were sick, so she needed her oxygen tube.

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I walked in the room, I gave her a hug, like I do every day. It felt like a normal day in my dream. She gave me a tight hug. She told me I was gonna be a big player one day. She told me that 'good things will be happening to you.' We was a football family, but she said that I was probably gonna be the best to come out of my family.

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That's when I woke up, and that's when I heard about it [her passing]. That night that I heard she passed, it really touched me. It really made me a stronger person. It made me a whole different person. So I play through her every time, I play through her word every time,” Mason said.

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Of the lessons she imparted to Mason, he believed learning to respect others has most influenced who he is. It is a trait he is eager to display.

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There was the time when he consoled a young boy at underserved Fox Elementary School during a basketball camp he helped run. When the boy was hit in the head with a basketball and ridiculed by his peers, he retreated to the bleachers and refused to participate.

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That was where Mason came in to offer words of encouragement.

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“I felt like I had to step up and be a leader. I gave him some motivational speeches, like don't let one thing bring you down because you have a lot of life to live to be down in one moment,” Mason recounted. “So I told him I told him it'll be alright, wiped his tears, and told him to go back out there.”

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Yet all of that almost did not happen.

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Fulfilling destiny

It was late May 2021. Calvary’s then-head basketball coach Kevin Williams received a call from a local AAU coach and an unknown basketball player’s mother seeing if her son could play for the Knights’ summer league team.

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“[I] picked him up and he started coming to practice. And when we started our summer league he was playing with us, it was pretty much that simple,” Williams said. “He got in the car, introduced himself, and the rest is history.”

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Then came time to practice.

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The first thing that stuck out to Williams was Mason’s size. Built like a “brick house,” none of the other players wanted to confront Mason once he got going toward the rim.

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Calvary’s football coaches quickly caught wind of the new kid in the gym and set about recruiting him to play running back despite having never played the position before.

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The transition was awkward at first. There were growing pains learning the position, and poor habits from his Jordan days carried over. Self-doubt. All the excuses. Little mistakes he made throughout those first few practices.

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Yet over time, the hard work began to pay off.

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The love and generosity of those around Calvary to ensure Mason had everything he needed and was taken care of began to draw him out of his shell. That quiet, hard-working and respectful young man everyone around Calvary raved about finally felt comfortable enough to be his true self.

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According to Lindsey Morgan, an administrator at Calvary, the results were stunning.

“His smile is infectious, his joy is infectious,” Morgan said. “He’s the most exciting thing to happen to the school, or the football program at the very least.”

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That is due in no small part to Morgan, her family and athletic department administrator Loretta Robinson, who all spearhead the effort to ensure Mason has the chance to reach his full potential as a person and player.

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“The Morgans, they also made me like a second home to Calvary,” Mason said. “They take me to church every Sunday and Wednesday, they take me to Bible study and give me the Word of God. My relationship with them is like a second family.”

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Now with the playoffs set to begin, Mason is preparing to make his highly anticipated return to the field from injury. A state championship and eternal glory at the school he so dearly loves are firmly in his sights.

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While the journey to Calvary was never straightforward, he would not have it any other way. For the soft-spoken teen that always just wanted the chance to prove himself, everything is now ahead of him.

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His life is less a story than a testament to when self-determination and an unconquerable spirit meet unconditional love and opportunity, dreams yet still come true. And until they all do, Mason will continue to tear his way through West Georgia on a mission to fulfill a wayward destiny whispered to him by the past.