Mason Stokke started his Wisconsin career at a position that boasts several former Badgers currently in the NFL. The one that he finished at has also produced a couple currently playing on Sundays.
Now Stokke himself is knocking on professional football’s door with the program’s Pro Day on March 10.
The Menomonie, Wis., native started his time at inside linebacker for his first two seasons, and even into summer practices of his redshirt sophomore campaign. However, he recalled a conversation with head coach Paul Chryst with a practice or two left in fall camp in 2018 asking about a potential move to fullback.
Chryst later approached Stokke again about the idea, and after some thought from their initial chat, the in-state product took on the challenge and learned under a mentor who is currently playing on Sundays.
“Had a couple practices in fall camp, and then basically that year I was under Alec Ingold, which was a great guy to learn off of, especially just switching from the [linebacker] position,” Stokke told BadgerBlitz.com on Wednesday. “It helped being a linebacker, but it really helped to have a guy like that to learn off of. I'd always, after meetings, sit extra with him and ask all the questions I had.
“The transition went, I would say, pretty well. In high school, I was a running back, so the running and catching came natural. It was more so the blocking that [was] a little bit of an adjustment going from linebacker.”
Stokke now sits days away from working to impress NFL personnel at Wisconsin’s Pro Day, and he has been training at ETS Performance in Woodbury, Minn., since early January. That was after making the decision to forego the extra year of eligibility to play a sixth year at Wisconsin in order to chase a professional opportunity.
“There was a decision-making process there,” Stokke said. “Just a lot of my close buddies are coming back, want to come back, play my last year of college, but the decision was made based on just it was my best time to go, and I felt like I was ready to go.”
Stokke’s training starts around 8:30 a.m. in the morning, with his days involving a run to start followed by weight room, recovery, nutrition and film work. Having graduated in December with a degree in personal finance, not having the school work and rigors of the college lifestyle has allowed him to focus on preparing to impress those in the NFL.
“It’s definitely nice just having no worries besides preparing for one event, so you can really dial it in with your diet, nutrition, which has been cool,” Stokke, who is close to his goal of weighing 245 pounds, said. “It’s been nice, and you definitely can see the gains from week-to-week, even in the weight room.”
Training for the season and training for a Pro Day can have its differences. From Stokke’s perspective, he believes it is not “a ton different,” though he receives feedback on “so many of the little things” as the 40-yard dash, three-cone and pro-agility drills await him.
The lifts are directed for specific events he will participate in, as Stokke explained. Those for the lower body are geared more towards explosiveness, while his upper body workouts for the bench press aim towards endurance.
Stokke also received the opportunity to head to Texas to participate in a three-day event known as the College Gridiron Showcase in January that took place about two weeks into his training. According to the former first-team all-state prep running back and linebacker, he spoke with 14 teams in an interview-like fashion and was able to work out in front of them.
Wisconsin has seen recent fullbacks in the Chryst era receive the opportunity to compete at the next level. Derek Watt has played five seasons between the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ingold just finished his second year with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Stokke sees himself “as a versatile fullback that can do all the running, blocking and catching, but also that is athletic enough to be on all four phases of special teams.” That mirrors the capabilities of both Watt and Ingold.
At Wisconsin, Stokke helped open holes for Jonathan Taylor, Jalen Berger and Garrett Groshek, but the coaching staff entrusted him in short yardage or goal line situations with the ball in his hand -- finishing his career with 38 carries for 109 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He also caught the ball out of the backfield with success, reeling in eight passes for 58 yards and three receiving scores in 2020 alone.
With those attributes, Stokke also continues to develop a couple of areas while gearing up for next week and beyond. The first he mentioned came with field work, but “the biggest thing is the mental game,” according to the former three-star recruit. That includes picking the brains of a couple NFL players -- one former and one current -- who have played for the position.
“I’ve met with C.J. Ham, who's a Vikings fullback right now, and we just kind of talk football,” Stokke said. “Last week, I was able to meet with John Kuhn in Green Bay. We also just talked football. He ran me through a workout, gave me some things to work on. There's definitely things that I've been able to work on going forward to the next steps.”
