In a year and a half, Mason Vega went from playing high school basketball at Los Osos High School east of Los Angeles to starting two Division I football games for the Portland State Vikings.     

It was quite a journey and quite an experience.     

After playing football when he was younger, Vega decided to concentrate on basketball in high school. He was pretty good at football and his dad (Anthony Vega) urged him to try high school football, but said he wouldn't force him to do anything.     

"I had a desire to play football, but was always scared that playing football would have an impact on basketball and maybe leave my coach thinking I wasn't fully committed to his basketball program," Vega recalled.     

After a particularly bad game during his junior year, he decided to reevaluate. "A friend could see I was down after that game. He told me 'hey Mase, don't worry about that game. You know what I see for you? I see you as a Division I college football player. You have the body for it and you have the footwork and skill set to really excel in it'," he said. "He said he had a brother-in-law (who played college basketball) whose biggest regret was not playing high school football."     

Vega decided he didn't want to always wonder what would have happened if he'd played high school football. So, he joined the Los Osos football team his senior year. Turned out, he was a natural.     

He was named second team All-League and earned his team's Iron Man Award, all while maintaining the grades to be a scholar athlete.     

That and his size (6'2" 220 pounds) drew interest from college coaches, including Portland State Defensive Co-ordinator Malik Roberson.     

"Mason only played in high school as a senior, so his ceiling is really high. We saw that in him. He brings size and athleticism," said Roberson.      

For his part, Vega decided on Portland State because of the coaching staff.      

"When I came here and saw a coaching staff that I could tell legitimately cared about me and my future, unlike other coaching staffs. I remember on my visit, they talked about not only the next four years, but the next 40. That put me over the edge, and I knew this was the program I wanted," said Vega.      

That was the journey.       

As to the experience: "The first week of fall camp, I was surprised by how many meetings and walk-throughs we had. We had no free time whatsoever. Once I got into a routine, it started to feel less stressful."        

And the speed of the Division I game… "I came in without any experience playing linebacker and there was going to be a learning curve. The first rep I had playing linebacker, I was astonished at the speed of the game. There is no other way to describe it other than this doesn't even compare to high school football."     

Initially, the coaches decided to redshirt Vega, who said he embraced the idea of spending his first year learning the college game and getting physically and mentally stronger.  But 29 injured players during the season disrupted coaching plans and a number of true freshmen were brought in to help.     

He began "grinding during practice to try and get some minutes." It paid off as by the first of October, Vega was getting into games. Then, he was tabbed to start against Sacramento State and against one of the nation's top teams, Eastern Washington, the Vikings' last game of the season.     

Against Eastern Washington, Vega recorded five solo tackles and was in on three more. But, he cites as his season highlight, the first play of the Sac State game where he forced a fumble.      

As to next season, Roberson expects Vega to compete for a starting position, although he said "he's still working on the ABC's of defensive football, recognizing offensive patterns.  We think he's a great kid and a great fit for our program.  He's a scholar athlete and he picks up things quickly," said Roberson.     

And Vega has set big goals for his time as a Viking. Besides maintaining above a 3.5 average in the classroom, he wants to win a Big Sky Championship and maybe even a national championship "with my freshman class that committed to playing with me here."      

He'd also like to be recognized as an All-American. And, who knows. As Roberson said, Vega has a very high ceiling.