Auburn (42-20), the No. 4 national seed in the college baseball NCAA Tournament, is preparing to host fellow SEC foe Ole Miss (39-21) in the best-of-three super regionals this weekend for a chance to advance to the College World Series (CWS). It would be the seventh time in program history the Tigers reached college baseball’s biggest stage.
And while head coach Butch Thompson guides the Tigers toward the CWS on the diamond, it’s former star player and current chaplain Mason Maners guiding the Tigers toward a deeper relationship with Jesus during their postseason run.
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As a child, Mason was given the nickname “Mustard Seed” by his parents — a reference to Matthew 17:20 and a reminder to never lose faith, even when hope is bleak. After enduring multiple failed rounds of in vitro fertilization, Martin and Allison Maners continued to hope that God would bring them a child.
Mason was already a miracle child at birth, yet Martin and Allison didn’t realize just how true that moniker would end up being. He was inches away from his athletic career — and life — being permanently altered when a football injury during his freshman year of high school nearly left him paralyzed.
It’s a story he tells in a video produced by Auburn while he was still playing.
Growing up in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, near Birmingham, he was inundated by Auburn Athletics from an early age. Martin took a young Mason to a Tigers football game, where he had the chance to stand on the sidelines.
“I think that just blew his mind and enamored him with it,” Martin said in the video. “So football became a real exciting part of his growing up. Baseball as well.”
Martin was a football star himself at Vestavia Hills High School in the 1980s, and Mason spent his Friday nights at the stadium watching the high school team play. He envisioned himself on that field one day.
He didn’t have to wait long for that chance, earning a spot on the field as a freshman, but that chance was soon snatched away.
He remembers it well — the last day of spring practice his freshman year. The team was playing a live scrimmage. One of the last plays of the day. Playing the outside linebacker position, Mason heard a coach bark that the play was coming to him.
“As soon as I made the tackle, I felt a tingling, burning sensation go throughout my whole entire body,” Mason said. “I lost feeling in my feet and my hands.”
Coaches did their best to stabilize him until paramedics arrived. When they did, they loaded him on a stretcher and secured his head and neck. When he arrived at the hospital, he was able to walk over to another room to get X-rays, and the doctor reassured him it was likely nothing too serious.
“Really, what I was thinking was that the new ‘Captain America’ was coming out that night and I had tickets,” Mason said in the video. “I hope we can hurry this up.”
But the appointment was beginning to take longer expected.
“Once the X-rays came back, we had the ER doctor tell us the neurosurgeon would be in here in a moment to speak to us, and that kind of rocked our world,” Martin said.
The doctor said Mason’s X-rays showed that his injury resulted in broken C-1 and C-2 vertebrae, what’s known as the “Hangman’s break.”
“Really by God’s grace and mercy, I didn’t look down or turn my head a certain way, because any minor movement or any of that could’ve caused me to be paralyzed or dead,” Mason said. “God’s hand was just over it the whole entire time.
“Apart from Him, I don’t believe that I’d be sitting here today wearing an Auburn uniform or even walking or being alive.”
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After his injury, Mason found himself in neck braces for weeks on end in an attempt to heal. And it worked.
“I went back to get X-rays and the doctor was just astonished to see that the bones healed perfectly back and everything looked almost better than it did before,” he said.
Though his bones healed, doctors wouldn’t sign off for him to play football again. But baseball was still in the cards, so he joined the baseball team the following season.
“But we never imagined after that,” Martin said, “that Division-I baseball, let alone Power-5 baseball, would be in his future.”
Mason began his collegiate career at Jacksonville State in 2021 and excelled for three seasons before transferring to Auburn for the 2024 campaign. As a senior, he ranked third on the team with a .296 batting average and added seven home runs and 17 RBIs. He was also a perfect 7-for-7 on stolen base attempts.
How awesome is this!
Former @AuburnBaseball player @MasonManers now serves as the Team Chaplain. His players @FarberRyne and @C_Chatterton2 shared Mason's impact on this week's What's Up podcast.
Listen to our full conversation now! https://t.co/FI2Jjq9Sbh pic.twitter.com/SGnTNXBLoX
— Sports Spectrum (@Sports_Spectrum) May 6, 2026
Now that his eligibility is exhausted, Mason is the chaplain for a Tigers team that has its sight set on a CWS appearance. Current players rave about his spiritual impact in his new role.
“Mason does an unbelievable job,” sophomore pitcher Christian Chatterton said on Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast last month. “It’s kind of crazy because three years ago, he was playing for Auburn, and he was also really good here. He’s done a great job. He’s somebody that we can all go to talk about faith and other stuff.
“I think this team is also special in the way that a lot of our guys on our team are just all-in for Jesus. I think a lot of that credit has to go to Mason, for sure.”
Junior infielder Ryne Farber agreed.
“Outside of team Bible studies, [Mason will] just come up and talk to you. He wants to know how you’re doing. He wants to know how your walk is going,” Farber said. “I think community is so important, and to have people that are all wanting to be great baseball players, but more importantly, be great people and grow toward the Lord is awesome.”
Last June, Mason posted on Instagram about how grateful he is for this role in leading young athletes in their faith.
“Glory and praise to the Lord for this incredible year!” he wrote. “Serving as Chaplain for this team has been one of the greatest privileges and deepest joys. I’ve been continually overwhelmed by the goodness and grace of the One who is faithful in every season. He is truly worthy of everything. Grateful for all He’s done—excited to be back in August!”
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Game 1 between Auburn and Ole Miss is set for Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
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