Mason Heintschel Fits Exactly What Pitt Wants at Quarterback

Mason Heintschel is big on trust. He’s big on relationships. That’s why he put his faith in Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell early in the process. And throughout the entire process, from the day he picked up an offer from secondary coach Archie Collins to now, he hasn’t been led astray.

Broken promises aren’t exactly uncommon — especially in today’s age of college football. But not with Pitt.

“They did everything they said they were gonna do,” Mason Heintschel said last week. “They play really fast as you guys could probably tell throughout the season, and they snapped the ball quick and they like to throw it around. And that’s something coach Bell and I talked about early, just they love to throw the ball. And being a quarterback, you love to hear that.”

Heintschel committed to Pitt just under a year ago. He didn’t plan to move so quickly, but he picked up an offer on Feb. 9 of last year, visited Pittsburgh last March for a spring practice and committed a couple of weeks later.

It came down to relationships — mainly the relationship with Bell.

🆕 threads, same #

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Heintschel obviously hasn’t played in a college game yet, but he did receive a sneak peak of sorts in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. He practiced with the Panthers at Ford Field in the buildup to the bowl appearance against Toledo and was able to wear a headset on the sideline.

“My head was definitely spinning,” Heintschel said. “Coming in, I didn’t know any of the offense. We’d gone over it a little bit, but I hadn’t learned it very much. So, just going over the offense and all the play calls, it definitely made my head spin a little bit. But that’s why we’re here now, that’s why I’m here early, just to start learning that and get more comfortable with that.”

He may have been around for the bowl game, but he’s only been on campus for about a month. The adjustment is a work in progress.

The older quarterbacks have been super helpful, but it’s one thing to watch Pitt play on TV (or even in person), it’s another to learn the offense in a couple of weeks and operate it. It takes time.

“It’s just a lot of work,” Mason Heintschel said. “I’ve come in just about every day to work with coach (Jacoby) Floyd and coach (Trent) Turk. We’ve done a great job of just going over the installs and that kind of stuff, it’s a lot, so we’ve been grinding. Throughout the month of January, we were here just about every day. So, it’s just different, high school football and college football are different, it’s two different elements.”

It’s a whole different type of preparation, learning a brand-new offense and adapting to the speed — of everything — at the college level.

But Heintschel played in a no-huddle offense in high school. And as he played his senior season at Clay, he took what he heard from Bell to heart. He wanted to refine the little things — it isn’t about being the hero on every play. He wanted to slow down and play within the system, as opposed to trying to do too much. And that’s what he worked on.

Of course, Heintschel is a natural fit in the offensive scheme, too. Bell looks for a very particular kind of athlete at quarterback, and Heintschel fits the mold to a T.

He’s coming off a senior season in which he racked up 3,200 total yards and 41 touchdowns.

“I think I play fast as well,” Heintschel said. “I think that’s a big thing for me; I’m able to make quick decisions. I believe I have a very quick release, so that’s something coach Bell really liked out of me and what they saw that would really fit into this offense.

“Just being able to create plays off script as well, there’s only so much you can do inside of an offense going through all of the progressions, going through reads and all of that stuff, but when things hit the fan, you don’t back down from pressure, you try to make a play. And I think that’s something I did really well in high school, and I hope that can translate to college football.”

Heintschel trusts that he’s where he needs to be. And he trusts that he’s a near-perfect fit in the system, too.