Injured Colts special teams coordinator plans to be on the sideline for Indy's season opener

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Injured Indianapolis Colts special teams coordinator Brian Mason said Monday he intends to return to the sideline in time for Indy's Sept. 13 season opener against Baltimore.

Mason suffered a seventh major injury to his left knee during Indy's first preseason game, a 13-13 tie at New England. On the game's final play, Colts quarterback Riley Leonard threw a Hail Mary pass and a couple of players rolled into Mason's legs.

Mason remained on the ground as he clutched at the knee and trainers rushed over to check on him. He returned to the practice field a few days later, wearing a protective brace. Coach Shane Steichen told reporters then that Mason would work from the press box for the rest of the preseason.

In his first public comments since getting hurt, Mason said he plans to be back on the sideline “soon.”

“I’m not going to miss practice. I’m not going to miss any games, and I plan on being on the sideline in the regular season,” he said. “I think in order to really be a successful special teams coordinator, you need to be on the sideline. We don’t have coach-to-player communication, so I’m not talking directly to a (middle) linebacker, or in our case, (safety) Cam Bynum or a quarterback. I don’t have a long play sheet. I need to quickly be able to communicate with a lot of different people.”

Mason also went through his lengthy injury history.

He said he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee twice during high school and twice more in college — the last ending his playing career and starting his coaching journey as a student at Denison College. He suffered another torn ACL while playing basketball at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse in 2012, and he sustained another major injury while landscaping in 2021 during his coaching tenure with the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Mason said his latest injury was not a big deal for the Colts.

“Before New England, I was a coach with a really bad knee that someday will need a knee replacement, and after the New England game, I am a coach with a really bad knee that still needs someday a knee replacement,” he said. “For those in the crowd, that are like, ‘Who cares about a coach being injured?’ I agree. ‘Why are there so many articles about a coach being injured?’ I agree.”

Mason grew up in Zionsville, a suburb on Indy's west side.

His coaching stops include Denison, Bluffton University in Ohio and his brief stop at Butler before taking graduate assistant jobs at Kent State in 2012, Purdue in 2013 and Ohio State in 2015. He joined Cincinnati's staff in 2017, was promoted to special teams coordinator and took the same post at Notre Dame in 2022 before joining the Colts in 2023.

“He’s pretty tough,” Steichen said two weeks ago. “I think right now he’s going to let that thing heal. I mean, he has some serious injuries, which is wild. Obviously, he's tough as nails coming back the next day.”

Now, Mason plans to show his toughness again.

“We need to quickly be able to talk to a wide range of guys on offense and defense to be able to make quick adjustments,” he said. “Obviously, right now, just with me not being able to walk normally, I’m in the press box. But hopefully, through rehab and bracing, I will be able to walk normally and be back on the sideline soon.”

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