10

Thursday, August 9th, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

For the Michigan wrestling 
team, there will be a stud at 
heavyweight. A tall, built, blonde 
wrestler who dominated in high 
school and is looking to tear up 
the competition in the Big Ten. 
And he is studying to become an 
engineer.
Sound familiar?
That’s 
because 
incoming 
freshman 
Mason 
Parris 
bears 
striking 
resemblance 
in his wrestling trajectory to 
Wolverine legend Adam Coon.
With Coon’s recent departure 
from Ann Arbor, Parris seeks 
to build his craft where Coon 
perfected 
his. 
Parris, 
who 
finished his high school career 
as the No. 1-ranked high school 
heavyweight wrestler, looks to 
continue Michigan’s dominance 
at heavyweight and take the 
torch from Coon.
While the two will not overlap 
a year of eligibility for the 
Wolverines, Parris and Coon will 
still attempt to build a mutually 

beneficial relationship on and off 
the mat.
Their 
relationship 
began 
in earnest when Coon was 
preparing for the World Team 
Trials. In order to help him 
prepare for the best of the best, 
Coon brought in all the help he 
could in an attempt to make the 
World Team. That meant Parris.
So during the week leading 
up to the trials, Parris came up 
to Ann Arbor where he helped 
run a youth wrestling camp and 
assist Coon in his preparation.
“We’d wrestle around a little 
bit, and he would teach me like 
his upper body, like throws,” 
Parris said. “Then when we’d 
live wrestle, I kinda just helped 
him out by being a faster body 
for him and kinda trying to get in 
on his legs so he could fight out 
of it.”
Whatever he did, it worked. 
Coon would then go on to 
triumph over Robby Smith to 
land a spot on the Greco-Roman 
World Team.
“Adam’s been a really good 
mentor to me, and he has really 

helped me out a lot,” Parris said. 
“He’s told me like a lot about the 
system, and he’s a really great 
guy.”
Going forward, Parris hopes 
to maintain his relationship 
with Coon and use his expertise 
on everything from on the 
mat struggles to engineering 
problems.
Parris also hopes to gain 
assistance with his technique. 
Throughout his high school 
career, Parris relied on a unique 
blend of awe-inducing strength 
and 
unrivaled 
quickness 
to 
dominate his high school level 
competition. After all, we’re 
talking about a man who only 
lost once in four years of high 
school 
wrestling, 
capturing 
three state titles and the respect 
of the wrestling community.
Parris 
enjoys 
controlling 
the pace of his matches, often 
electing to push his opponents 
to their limits in terms of tempo 
and physicality. But in order to 
bring that same intensity and 
dominance to the next level, 
every aspect of his game needs 

to be immaculate.
“I 
think 
(the 
Michigan 
coaching 
staff) 
is 
really, 
definitely gonna help me a lot 
with my technique because I still 
have a lot of things to work on 
because I did two other sports, 
and I didn’t wrestle all year-
round,” Parris said, “So I think 
they’re really gonna help me out 
with my technique and help me 
adjust a few things.”
Technique down or not, it 
seems obvious that someone 
with the affinity for wrestling 
like Parris would easily make 
the choice to wrestle at the next 
level. However, that was not 
always his first option. Due to 
his raw athleticism, Parris was 
all-state in three sports and was 
strongly considering collegiate 
football over wrestling.
In the end, Parris went with 
his gut and cited two simple yet 
rational reasons for choosing 
the mat over the gridiron — the 
individualism and success he 
had found with wrestling.
“It was a really tough decision 
for me, but I decided on wrestling 

because I really saw myself being 
a really good wrestler,” Parris 
said, “And then I really liked how 
it was an individual sport and 
how what you put into the sport 
is what you get out of it.”
However, 
Parris’ 
football 
journey may not end in Ann 
Arbor. Many collegiate wrestlers 
have taken their talents to 
the NFL or even garnered 
professional 
interest. 
Most 
recently, certain NFL teams 
have even expressed interest in 
acquiring Coon as an offensive 
lineman.
While he won’t be training 
under 
Michigan 
coach 
Jim 
Harbaugh during his time with 
the Wolverines, the path exists 
for Parris to take football to the 
next level.
But as he’s gotten older, Parris 
has fully adopted every facet of 
the wrestling world. From the 
tight-knit community to the 
brutal physical toll of the sport, 
Parris has embraced it all and 
doesn’t see himself burning out 
anytime soon.
“Well, when I was younger 
I wasn’t like a huge fan of 
wrestling, but I did it still because 
I liked it and I was pretty good at 
it,” Parris said. “But when I got 
older, like around middle school, 
I really developed a love for 
wrestling, and I think it was just 
me winning tournaments and 
stuff that made me really like it 
and all the people I’d meet. I like 
the challenge too.
“I don’t think I’ll ever burn out 
of wrestling because I really love 
it, but I think some challenges 
are gonna be maintaining my 
health.”
As Parris shifts from being a 
part-time to full-time wrestler, 
his mission is clear — maintain 
the 
level 
of 
dominance 
he 
exhibited 
in 
high 
school. 
Attaining the No. 1 ranking in 
anything is never easy, but as 
Parris explains it, that wasn’t the 
difficult part.
“It just makes me drive more 
because they say it’s harder to 
stay on top than to actually get 
there,” Parris said. “So, I really 
worked a lot harder when I saw 
that because I knew I had stuff 
to prove to put me there.”
While the level of competition 
will surely increase as Parris 
heads for the Big Ten, the 
greatest wrestling conference 
in the country, the goal stays 
the same. But with a mentor 
like Coon and the physical tools 
already at his disposal, it’ll be 
hard to bet against this kid.

Meet the Wolverines’ new heavyweight: Mason Parris

JACOB KOPNICK
Summer Managing Sports Editor

COURTESY OF TWITTER, @PARRIS58
Incoming freshman heavyweight wrestler Mason Parris looks to make an immediate impact after a dominant high school career that saw him win three state titles

