Mason Richman grows into leadership role at Iowa as he begins third season as starting left tackle

IOWA CITY — Kirk Ferentz posed a question to his team this week. He wanted to know if anyone had blocked three punts in their career.

“I was like counting in my head,” offensive lineman Mason Richman said. “I know I had two. And then I kind of raised my hand. I didn’t want to completely show myself off.”

Yes, that is Iowa’s 312-pound left tackle saying he blocked two punts.

Those blocked punts were from his days as a leaner 250ish-pound defensive lineman (and tight end before that) in high school. One could hardly tell that, though, based on how Richman has found a home as Iowa’s starting left tackle during his Iowa football career.

Saturday’s game against Utah State will mark Richman’s 26th career start and the beginning of his third season as Iowa’s starting left tackle.

Richman has more career starts at Iowa (25) than any other offensive player on this year’s team. In fact, he has started more games than running back Kaleb Johnson, tight end Luke Lachey and wide receiver Diante Vines combined.

Richman heard a story during fall camp about former Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder telling a player, “you play the game right, but you don’t understand the game.”

“I think for me, it might be even the opposite,” Richman said. “I understand the game a lot. ... I’ve had a ton of reps out there. It’s just about playing.”

Richman was a season-long starter on the offensive line as early as his redshirt freshman season. He missed two games because of an injury, but otherwise took almost all of the team’s snaps covering Spencer Petras or Alex Padilla’s blind side.

“It was a battle of survival, Year 1,” Ferentz said.

Richman started all 13 games in his second year as Iowa’s first-team left tackle, and rarely left the field. He appeared in 98.5 percent of the team’s snaps, according to Pro Football Focus data. But he was quietly dealing with an injury that required surgery.

“Now he's fully healthy, got two years of experience and he's practiced at a really high level,” Ferentz said.

Allen Terrell, Richman’s former high school coach at Blue Valley in the Kansas City suburbs, believes “we’re just scratching the surface of what his capabilities are.”

“He's a guy that down the road will absolutely have a shot to get paid playing football,” Terrell said.

From ‘skinny sophomore’ to Big Ten recruit

Richman’s quick learning curve on the offensive line at Iowa somewhat resembled how he “grew up really fast” in high school.

The first time with “significant varsity action,” Terrell remembers, was against the rival high school. Richman was playing on the defensive line. That opponent also had a future Division I offensive tackle.

“He kind of introduced Mason to varsity football,” Terrell said. “Mason had a rough night. They picked on him a little bit. He was a skinny sophomore.”

But Terrell saw a much different Richman in the following years, especially as the young talent was “realizing his potential.” (Some college coaches seemed to notice it as well based on the offers from Iowa, Kansas and others.)

“I can remember multiple games his senior year where we would look at each other as coaches and just go, ‘Oh my,’” Terrell said. “Mason was making plays left and right.”

As much as Terrell remembers Richman’s on-the-field growth, Richman’s off-the-field contributions at Blue Valley stood out to his coach, as well.

“He was not going to let kids get bullied,” Terrell said. “Always looking out for that type of kid in our building. His little brother is the same way. ... That’s probably from their parents, being raised properly.”

Richman brings leadership and laughs

Richman has taken a leadership role at Iowa, Ferentz said, and has “earned the right to do it.”

An all-Big Ten honorable mention the last two seasons, Richman has taken more than 1,500 snaps on the offensive line, per Pro Football Focus.

“He’s seen a lot of football, and he knows a lot of football,” center Logan Jones said.

While Richman plays a much different position on the line than Jones, his wisdom has been helpful for the defensive line convert.

“We sit next to each other in meetings,” Jones said. “If I have a question, I can ask him what he’d do. He’s also played with Tyler (Linderbaum), so he knows what a great center does.”

Richman does not take himself too seriously.

Terrell described him as a “goofball” in high school, almost to a fault.

“He was an extremely immature freshman,” Terrell said. “In fact, we didn’t know if he would make it all four years with us. ... He wasn’t making like really bad life decisions, but just kind of ornery and very outspoken.”

(Of course, Terrell is not afraid to dish it back, calling him in jest a “pretty-boy, Birkenstock-wearing” guy.)

Richman’s maturation since then has been obvious although he has not totally lost his “goofball” personality. He is a big fan of the 2008 comedy “Step Brothers.”

“I could quote that movie right now,” Richman said. “Whatever scene you want to hear.”

Of course, he’s “got to be appropriate here” when speaking to media, so he won’t recite any scene of the R-rated movie.

But when it was time for a summer photo shoot, Richman and quarterback Cade McNamara did their best impressions of John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell. Richman sat in Reilly’s position while McNamara rested his hands on Richman’s right shoulder like how Ferrell did.

“That’ll be a picture I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Richman said.

Thankfully for the Hawkeyes, the former tight end/defensive end has been a faster learner in Iowa City than Ferrell and Reilly’s characters were in their job interviews.

As for the blocked punts, one might not want to hold their breath for the third one from Richman.

“(Ferentz) was telling me today we’re probably not going to put me on special teams,” Richman said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com