AUBURN, Ala. – Before their first Zoom calls with the media, Mike Bobo joked with Derek Mason and asked him not to use any "Vanderbilt or Stanford words." "Don't worry about it," Mason responded. And then he proceeded to use "kinesthetic learners" when talking about the way players comprehend knowledge and concepts.
"We have kinesthetic learners," the new Auburn defensive coordinator explained. "Guys who need to see and touch and feel it."
Mason spent the past seven years as the head coach at Vanderbilt. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Stanford for four years. When it came time to figure out his next career move, Auburn wasn't on the radar initially. In fact, college football wasn't on the radar.
"I thought I was going back to the NFL, to be honest," Mason said. "I didn't think I was going to take a college job. I felt like, for me, I needed a break from the college game for just a little bit after seven years at Vanderbilt."
But that all changed when new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin reached out.
Mason and Harsin had a previous relationship. They had been on trips together. Their families had spent time around one another. And in terms of football, Harsin sold Mason on his vision for Auburn when Mason made a pit stop on the Plains on his way back home.
"That vision was set in stone, it was very strategic, and it had all the makings of what I thought a good leader should talk about coming into a situation like this," Mason said.
Getting the chance to see Auburn in person didn't hurt the sales pitch either.
"I found myself really loving this place from the time I touched down," Mason said. "I drove into the city, I didn't know what to expect. They call it the Plains. I got here and found a terrific city, a really nice community and a university that has a lot to sell when you talk about the student-athlete experience.
"So from the city to the university experience to what Coach Harsin is bringing, all that seemed to fit for me. It was an easy decision. I feel good about where we are right now. Believe me, I would've made this decision 10 out of 10 times. Auburn is the place for me."
There's been an adjustment for Mason going to back to his former role as the defensive coordinator after being the head coach for the past seven seasons. It's allowed more opportunities to focus on the football, focus on the recruiting and focus on the development of players.
"It's fun for me," Mason said. "I'm a soldier. I can lead, but I can also follow."
Since he was first hired in January, Mason has been working around the clock on building relationships with the current players, establishing their trust and then helping them learn his defensive system and adapt to the new culture Harsin has brought with him. There have been challenges for the new staff with COVID-19 and various protocols, but the first two weeks of spring practice brought a sense of normalcy with it.
Spring practice has also given Mason a better idea of the pieces at his disposal.
"We've got all different types," Mason said. "We've got big guys, we've got long guys. For me, it's a nice smorgasbord of players who have different skillsets.
"I like to be able to see Stone (Jaren) Handy who can be a four-technique but who can also slide to an end. I like to see (Chandler) Wooten as he can play inside 'backer but he can also play outside 'backer or walk in space. I can say the same thing about Zakoby (McClain). I can say the same thing Owen (Pappoe).
"I think the versatility of the front seven is going to be huge for us just in terms of speed, size, athleticism and trying to create one-on-one matchups. For me right now, I'm like a kid in a candy shop."