By Bill Sorrell
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
Gabriel Mass is trying to live up to his name, which means “a man of God.”
“God first, family second and then football,” said Mass, a 25-year-old former college football player from Jackson, Tennessee. “By having faith and working hard, I am staying focused on my goal.”
Mass played defensive end at Lane College in Jackson and graduated in December 2016. He plans to participate in Alabama’s Pro Day in March and he may try out for the Canadian Football League.
“I feel like God gave me the ability to play football. I’m thankful,” he said. “I am trying to use my ability that He blessed me with. God just keeps blessing me.”
After graduating from Jackson High School in 2009, Mass signed with the University of South Alabama, which was beginning its football program, but he was placed on academic probation after failing to make his grades. He enrolled at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas, where he was redshirted and did not play during the 2010 season. He returned to South Alabama in 2011.
Back in game
“I didn’t have the grades to be put back on scholarship so basically I had to fund myself through school and I couldn’t do it. I ended up dropping out of school for a semester and went home and got a job.”
But he kept believing he would play again. And he did. He ended up at Lane on scholarship.
He also was Lane’s Male Athlete of the Year and named All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first-team defensive line in 2015 and second team all-conference in 2013 and 2014. He also was named All-South region in 2014 and 2015.
“Being out of football, losing my scholarship and keeping my faith that I was going to play football again, I ended up playing. I love playing. Every Saturday that I got to play thrilled me,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get the chance to be a professional player and get paid for doing what I love and show my faith. I want to show how God works and how faith pays off.”
He made the grades to play because he kept his head in the books and “did not get distracted.” His degree was in sociology.
When Mass was young, he was baptized in a Southern Baptist church at Howard Air Force Base in Panama.
“Both my parents are Christians. They always kept me in church,” he said, noting his parents led him to Christ.
“As a kid you just go with it but as I got older, I opened my eyes up that Jesus is real and I need Him in my life. He means everything to me. He is my Savior. Without Him, I am nothing. I have kept my faith ever since then. I believe that He is in my life, working through me.”
Mass is a member of Historic First Baptist Church, Jackson, Tennessee, and is active in its college ministry.
He also has been involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Lane.
“Second chances can be anything in your life. We all fall short in the eyes of God. Nobody is perfect. I am truly thankful for the second chances I get.”
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