In the early years of Mason Tomlin’s life, going to Steelers games with his family never felt any different than a typical bring your child to work day. It was just known as “dad’s work.”
That was until Super Bowl XLIII after the 2008 season, the second year Mason’s father, Mike Tomlin, was head coach of the Steelers.
Classmates were coming up to Mason in school and he quickly realized the big game meant a lot more to everybody else than it meant to him.
“It was kind of just the way I grew up,” said Tomlin, now a senior defensive back at Columbia who has grown to love the game and find a place for it in his life in his own way since.
Mike Tomlin was a wide receiver at William & Mary from 1990-94, spent the next decade-plus at various college and NFL assistant coaching jobs, then became Steelers head coach in 2007.
Mike’s wife, Kiya, was a gymnast at William & Mary from 1993-96. None of the Tomlin children — Michael Dean “Dino,” Mason and Harlyn — had football or gymnastics forced upon them, but they all ended up taking similar paths.
Dino is a redshirt senior wide receiver at Boston College and Harlyn, a rising high school senior, recently committed to Georgia for gymnastics. That is in part because of a rule their parents enforced.
“They always had a rule,” Mason said. “You don’t have to do our thing, but you got to do something. … Doesn’t matter what it is, but it better be something.”
Mason tried everything, including track, baseball, lacrosse, basketball, football and music lessons. As he put himself out there, he began to notice the attention that comes with his name.
“In Pittsburgh, there’s a lot of attention that comes with it. People know you’re on the team before you even get off the bus,” he explained. “I remember in high school as a sophomore, I would be riding the bench in basketball — I wasn’t a bench rider, I was like the seventh man — but people are chirping me and I’m playing four minutes a game, I got two points. Like why am I getting chirped?
“People say things to you and all that, but I grew up like that. I mean, it’s been like that my whole life. So, I’m used to it now. I actually kind of enjoy it.”
Because of the reality in which he grew up, Mason didn’t know if he had any other path open to him besides going to college through a sport. He originally thought that would be basketball, which was his top priority in high school, but it wasn’t until his first Division I football offer from Columbia that the 2020 graduate of Shady Side Academy realized that might change.
“My dad … he knew,” Mason said. “He was always telling me, ‘You’re a football player. You’re a football player.’ But I was like I want to play basketball. When I got my first offer, it was kind of like ‘OK, he’s right.’ ”
Mason explained his father separated being a coach and a parent, which he said he appreciated. Sometimes though, Mason admitted with a laugh, the coach-parent dynamic would show itself in the form of a rare yell from four rows back at a high school game. The elder Tomlin gives football advice when asked and attends games when he can, because as Mason said, “He’s got his own problems.”
In high school, Mason played various positions, including wide receiver and quarterback, because of the school’s small roster. He always felt drawn to defense, however, and his dad knew it, too.
“My dad always says that I run faster without the ball than I do with it,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s how you know if you’re a defensive player.”
Columbia, which opens its 2023 season Saturday against Lafayette, was at the top of Mason’s list to attend because of its location. He’s an aspiring rapper, and lining up pursuing a college degree in New York City with football was the best of both worlds.
Justin Stovall, Columbia’s defensive coordinator, didn’t put much weight on Mike Tomlin’s son’s arrival at the football team’s Inwood facility. Rather, he just expected “Mason to have a football acumen, more than maybe your average guy coming in.”
But as a fan of the game, there is always a feeling of the need to do well.
“When you see him [Mike Tomlin] there, you know you have a set of eyes, watching what you’re putting on the field more than just watching his own kid,” Stovall said. “So, you do need to think about that as a football coach. I hope Coach Tomlin thinks you played good defense today. I mean, I think you can’t help but let that go through your head, right?”
Going into his senior year, Mason said he is “loving it” and feels more comfortable and in the flow of things compared to years prior during the pandemic. He is also navigating how to handle a leadership position, answering questions from the freshmen on the team and guiding them through the preseason prep. Despite a small amount of playing time, there is no doubt Mason is a strong member of the team with his infectious energy, dancing in practice, voicing commands and celebrating the good moments with his team.
“He’s always been a very mature young man coming in the door. … He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s always had one of the most positive outlooks and the energy that he brings us all the time,” Stovall said. “He’s one of the guys that you can always count on to light up the room. His energy is contagious like that. He’s been that way since the moment we were able to be in person together.”
That energy has also helped Mason off the field in music. He won a battle of the bands night to secure a spot in the university’s spring concert, the Bacchanal. Mason ran from football strength training to perform in front of all his teammates and other classmates, one of the few times he has performed on stage. He eventually performed at the event in front of major label artists invited by Columbia.
“It was really crazy, “he said. “More than anything it was cool to get on stage because I don’t really have time to do that with all my other life stuff going on.
“I had done talent shows and stuff in high school. That was my first time in a concert-like environment where people were excited to be there. That was really cool, like to interact with the crowd and have them interact back. It’s a lot like football or just sports in general, like when you get up there, the adrenaline starts going and it all kind of just blurs together.”
Unlike athletics, there isn’t as much music influence in his family aside from his great grandfather, who impressively played piano for Billie Holiday and Billy Eckstine. He played piano with Mason when he was young, instilling this unknowingly in him.
“He was a big figure in the Harlem Renaissance and it’s kind of interesting that I came back to this area,” Mason said. “But he’s won a Grammy and did all that stuff. So that’s the pipeline they always say like him to me, but nobody else has it.”
Mason released his first album during his senior year of high school after he realized he wanted to be a rapper by listening to Chance the Rapper’s “Coloring Book” album, Isaiah Rashad’s “The Son’s Tirade” and Logic’s “The Incredible True Story.”
His most recent release was his third, “Who Else But Us,” which came out in March, and he will be dropping his fourth album soon. Mason is also focusing on building a brand for himself that is important in the industry outside of just the lyrics.
The team plays some of Mason’s songs in the locker room in support and to get their energy going. He also often finds himself put in charge of the speaker during defensive drills under Stovall.
“I always ask him to give me his latest stuff. I want to hear what the latest is. I give him control of the speaker when we do unit meetings …. I know of his interests away from the field and I love that about him,” Stovall said. “He’s successful with us and he has other passions and he is very talented. It’s great to see.”
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