Mason Espinosa

Mason Espinosa is a professional American football quarterback for the Columbus Lions of the National Arena League (NAL). He has also played for the Albany Empire, the Erie Explosion and the Billings Wolves.[1][2][3] Espinosa played college football for Ohio Wesleyan University. He currently holds 17 individual Ohio Wesleyan records, as well as being the all-time North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) career leader in passing yards and total yards, while also setting a single season NCAC record for completions.[4]

Mason Espinosa
No. 15 – Columbus Lions
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school:Cookeville (TN)
College:Ohio Wesleyan
Undrafted:2014
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards

He was also an assistant football coach at Granville, Ohio-based Denison University, for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.[5]

College career

Espinosa played college football at Ohio Wesleyan University. He was a 4-time all NCAC selection, and was the NCAC Player of the Year in 2012. In addition he was named the ohiocollegefootball.com First-Team All-Ohio quarterback in 2012, and a Beyond Sports Network All-American that same year.[6][7] He was the MVP of the 2013 National Bowl Game.[8] In total, Espinosa finished as the record holder to 17 different records for Ohio Wesleyan, in addition to being the Conference's all-time record holder in career passing yards (11,069), total yards (10,839), and completions (1004), ranking him statistically among the best to have played Division III football.[9][10]

Professional career

Upon graduation from Ohio Wesleyan, Espinosa was invited to attend rookie mini-camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.[11][12][13] Shortly after, he was signed to the Erie Explosion of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) for the 2015 season.[1] In his rookie year, he was an Honorable Mention for Rookie of the year and was the Week 9 PIFL Offensive Player of the week.[14]

Espinosa started the 2016 season with the Columbus Lions of American Indoor Football.[15] In late March 2016, he signed with the Billings Wolves of the Indoor Football League (IFL).[16] He led the Wolves to their only playoff appearance and was the IFL's week 10 Offensive Player of the Week.[14][17]

For the 2017 season, Espinosa signed and played with the Columbus Lions of the NAL. He was voted 2nd team All-NAL and was 2-time NAL Player of the Week, while leading Columbus to the NAL championship game against the Jacksonville Sharks, where they lost 27–21.[18][19][20] He has re-signed with the Lions for 2018.[21]

On March 5, 2019, Espinosa was assigned to the Albany Empire of the Arena Football League. With the AFL closing down its teams in anticipation of either closure or reformatting as a touring league, the Columbus Lions re-signed Espinosa for the 2020 season.[22]

References
  1. "Mason Espinosa '14 Signs with Professional Indoor Football League". owu.edu. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  2. "Mason Espinosa". goifl.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  3. "Lions resign standout QB Mason Espinosa". nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  4. "2015 Defiance College Media Guide". issuu.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  5. "Inside Athletics: Mason Espinosa". denisonbigred.com. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  6. "Mason Espinosa". denisonbigred.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  7. "Ohiocollegefootball.com All-Ohio DIII Teams" (PDF). bluffton.edu. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  8. "Sherman Gains Red Nation MVP at National Bowl". goetbutigers.com. December 12, 2013. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  9. "Denison Coaches". denisonbigred.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  10. "NCAC Football Records". northcoast.org. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  11. "Bishops' Espinosa Invited to Pittsburgh Steelers' Camp". battlingbishops.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  12. "First test comes for Steelers rookies with team's three-day camp". triblive.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  13. "NFL Competition Committee Needs To Change Minicamp Eligibility Rules". steelersdepot.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  14. "Billings Wolves' QB Mason Espinosa putting up eye-popping numbers". Billingsgazette.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  15. "Lions open season with dominating 86-0 win". wltz.com. March 21, 2016. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  16. "Wolves sign Ohio Wesleyan quarterback". billingsgazette.com. March 31, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  17. "Week 10 IFL Offensive Player of the Week". goifl.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  18. "Lions resign standout QB Mason Espinosa". columbuslions.net. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  19. "4 COLUMBUS LIONS NAMED TO ALL-NAL OFFENSIVE SQUAD". columbuslions.net.
  20. "Lions Nation, I wanted to personally thank you for a great 2017 season". columbuslions.net. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  21. "Lions resign standout QB Mason Espinosa". nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  22. http://www.nationalarenaleague.com/news-m/980-espinoza-resigns-with-lions-for-2020-season.html
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