Clemson has started to express interest in a legacy recruit in the 2024 recruiting class.
Earlier this month, Ensworth (Nashville, TN.) linebacker Mason Curtis saw his Twitter notifications light up.
In a span of a couple of minutes, Curtis was followed by several members of Clemson’s defensive coaching staff, including defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall, who spent seven years coaching at The Ensworth School.
That definitely caught his attention.
“I think it’s kind of cool because I’ve always known about Clemson, my dad played at Clemson,” he said. “I’ve always been around Clemson. I was a huge Clemson fan growing up, so it’s been a cool experience.”
Curtis’ father, Rodney, played defensive end at Clemson from 1985-86.
Mason said that he was told that Clemson would like for him to come up this summer for a visit and a tour of campus.
His recruitment has started to heat up over the past month or so. He’s picked up a quartet of high-profile offers from Ole Miss, Tennessee and Memphis, in addition to his Vanderbilt offer.
“I feel like it’s cool because my older brother, I was always in the back seat for his recruitment, seeing him pick up offers, seeing him go on visits and now it’s just like me stepping into his role basically,” he said.
Mason’s brother, Devyn, is a redshirt freshman linebacker at Middle Tennessee State University.
One thing that helped Mason the most and is still helping him was watching his brother go through his recruitment. He got a chance to go on a couple of visits with him. He’s asked him some questions about what he looks for in a school and things of that nature.
“I would say my brother, I learned a lot from him about football,” Mason said, “and I still am learning things to this day. That’s one of the things he’s good at is teaching me that he did this because of this.”
How would Mason describe himself as a player to someone, who hasn’t seen him play before?
“I would say I’m long, athletic and very versatile,” he said. “I can come off the edge or play in space. I have a high motor. I think I do a good job of not taking plays off and I’m a real high-energy player.”
His high school puts him at different spots, but between 85-90% of the snaps he sees come at outside linebacker. This past season, he recorded three interceptions, two defensive touchdowns, roughly 35 tackles and between 4-5 forced fumbles.
If you’re looking for a player to compare to Mason, a former Clemson standout and current Arizona Cardinals do-everything-linebacker is someone that’s been very influential in how he’s shaped his game.
“I try to base my game off Isaiah Simmons and I think he showed how versatile he is being 6-4, 235, getting reps at safety, outside linebacker, things like that. I try to base my game off of him. Ever since I found out about Isaiah Simmons, I’ve been telling everybody that’s what I want to be. I want to be somebody like that.”
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