Weekly Weigh-Ins: Alex Caruso & Mario Mason
Sep 22 | Wrestling
ScarletKnights.com is pleased to announce a new weekly column dedicated to the wrestling program called Weekly Weigh-Ins. Each week leading up to the Scarlet vs. Black intersquad dual (Tuesday, Nov. 2), ScarletKnights.com will sit down with coaches and student-athletes for exclusive features and Q&A's. Additionally, Weekly Weigh-Ins will post exclusive video content to the RU wrestling social media pages of Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117162087457&v=app_2392950137&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=117162087457) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ruwrestling).
For this week's Weekly Weigh-In, ScarletKnights.com sat down with two of the newest members of the RU program, senior Alex Caruso and redshirt sophomore Mario Mason, to discuss why they transferred to Rutgers, their relationships with the coaching staff and their goals for the upcoming season.
ScarletKnights.com:
You're both coming in from top-10 programs (Caruso transferred from Lehigh and Mason transferred from Minnesota). What made you decide to come back to New Jersey and compete for Rutgers this year?
Alex Caruso:
For me, after four years, it was time for a change. I weighed my options and I felt at home here. I knew almost everybody on the team and knew the coaches for a long time. When I got here, it was a smooth transition. A lot of the things that go on around here are similar to what we did at Lehigh. The training is good and for the first few months, things have been going real well.
Mario Mason:
For me, coming from a Big Ten program it's a hard transition. But assistant coach Cory Cooperman and I have wrestled since I was a freshman in high school. He's probably one of the biggest factors in me coming back this way. Like Alex said, all of the guys here are guys I've grown up with and wrestled with and have been friends with my whole life. You come here and you're welcomed in like you're family. It's doing big things for the state too. Instead of sending talent elsewhere, we're giving New Jersey a hometown place for guys that want to wrestle in college.
ScarletKnights.com:
As mentioned before, you both come from two of the top programs in the country; can you compare what the rooms are like for those programs compared to here at RU?
Mario Mason:
The Minnesota team has been in the top-5 for most of the last 10 years but room-wise, they have a lot of good wrestlers and we have a lot of good wrestlers. Our workouts are as tough as anyone's in the country. At Minnesota, they say that they're the hardest working team in the country, but we're doing workouts here that are just as tough or tougher.
Alex Caruso:
At Lehigh, there was a ton of support, a ton of fans and I think that they're on their way up right now. I think they're a top-10 program, but I don't think that Rutgers is far behind. The support is building every day. Coach Goodale was saying that last year we were bringing 2,000 people per match and that's what it's like at a Lehigh or a Minnesota. I think that in order to build that tradition what we have to do now is build that foundation so that 20 years down the road we can have that kind of tradition and even surpass it and draw three or four thousand per match and be in the top-10 consistently.
ScarletKnights.com:
You've both touched on the coaching staff a little bit, could you talk about the relationship you've had with the coaching staff over the months you've been here at Rutgers and also describe some of the things you've been doing with them to help you become better wrestlers for the upcoming season?
Alex Caruso:
The one benefit for both me and Mario is that we've known these coaches for a while. Going to Fargo in the summer, wrestling all year round in New Jersey. These coaches have been part of wrestling in New Jersey for a long time. They know our styles and they know how we wrestle. They aren't trying to reinvent the wheel right now but Coop (Cory Cooperman), Leo (John Leonardis) and Coach Goodale all have stuff that they can bring to the table that can help our styles. They can also help us make some changes that they've seen along the way as we've been competing so far in college. That's been a big help to me so far. I just want to keep building on that and then in a month and a half when the season hits I'll be ready to hit the ground running.
Mario Mason:
They actually break everybody into groups with personal coaches. My personal coach right now is Cory. The personal coaches try to fit your needs and if you need to work a certain specific way they'll bring you in for extra workouts with them. They're always looking for something to help you with. Anything they can help you with, even school related, they'll help you get anything done so you can have your time to put in your work and get it done with, they're there to help no matter what you're doing.
ScarletKnights.com:
You both have NCAA experience. How can you bring that to this room and push some of the other guys who haven't been there before and how does that help you for the upcoming season as you try to get to that All-America/National Championship level?
Mario Mason:
For me, I did not have the season I wanted to have in any way. I'm not blaming Minnesota or the coaches it was me. I didn't wrestle the way that I know I can perform, so from my perspective it makes me hungry for the upcoming season especially because the NCAAs are near home in Philly. I'm ready to go, I'm pumped. My work ethic and my drive should hopefully influence some of the younger guys and some of the freshmen in here. A couple young guys like Eric Beverly, Anthony Volpe and Joe McCauley are just as hungry as I am competing in the room, wrestling hard, running hard, anything they can do to just have an edge they're doing it. Hopefully my influence is helping them and will continue to throughout the season and the rest of our years left here.
Alex Caruso:
For me, it's my last year of eligibility so there is definitely a sense of urgency. Coming from last year, I didn't even get the chance to go to Nationals or compete in EIWAs. As a freshman and sophomore wrestling I was in the National Tournament and winning matches and getting a taste of getting to those All-American rounds. It's definitely been a tough ride from last year having to watch NCAAs on TV rather than being there competing. There are a lot of problems that built up from last year that make me have the feeling that I want to come out on top and that's why I came to Rutgers. I think that this is the best chance for me to win and to get on the podium. To jump off of what Mario said, I'm not the only one; there are seven, eight, nine guys that believe that they can be All-Americans this year. There is no doubt in my mind that we're going to have 10 guys at Nationals and place a lot of guys on the podium. It's an exciting time and I definitely think these first few weeks of the preseason have helped us get off on the right foot. So we just have to keep getting better and better every day. Like Mario said, with the NCAAs being in Philadelphia it's going to be like wrestling in front of a home crowd. I think all the chips are in place and it's going to be exciting when the season starts.
Visit RU wrestling on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117162087457&v=app_2392950137&ref=ts#!/video/video.php?v=1621743266251&oid=117162087457) for the extended interview where Caruso and Mason discuss the importance of recruiting New Jersey wrestlers to RU.
