Only 3% of high school football players play division 1 high school, so the odds were against Mason Fairchild playing at a school like KU. Recently, I got a chance to interview Mason, a 2018 Andale graduate, about what it takes to rise from a local football star to a KU tight end.
He said that three things helped him get there; “talent, work ethic, and intelligence” he said he wasn’t the most talented guy at KU, much less in the tight end room. That’s where the work ethic came in.
In Mason’s last two seasons, KU qualified for bowl games against Arkansas and UNLV. I wanted to know what it was like to play in games on the biggest stage of college football. He said that playing in one is definitely better than not, and that over his first three years at KU, they didn’t win enough games to make a bowl game in one season. He said that winning that final bowl game against UNLV felt like the perfect ending to his college career.
Mason had an incredible career in high school, and I had to know what it was like to play for a school like Andale. He said his time here showed him that it takes hard work to win, and that surrounding yourself with great people makes it easier to succeed. He also said that these things helped him to be a part of KU’s recent success.
As most of the Andale community knows, Mason had the privilege of attending an NFL training camp. He told me that growing up, that was his ultimate goal, but at first was a little intimidating having to go up against guys he had watched play for 10+ years. He also said that he felt that he belonged there with those players. Mason later said that even though things didn’t work out the way he had hoped, he feels incredibly blessed to have had that opportunity, and is hungry for more.
Mason has obviously been a major influence on the community of Andale, so I asked what advice he would give to the younger generations who have dreams of playing football at a high level. He said that players should never let anybody tell them what they can and can’t do. Coming out of high school and during college, he said, there were a lot of people who didn’t believe in him, and there were stretches in his college career where he had a hard time believing in himself. Mason stated, “No matter what, you must believe in yourself.”.
