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During the COVID-19 pandemic, boredom consumed Mason Rivera. Five years before his first interception at UCLA—one of four in a commanding 54-3 victory over Maryland—a simmering frustration had been building.
That frustration, combined with his speed, propelled Rivera to amass 195 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, and two interceptions over four years at Cal Poly. Growing up in Tracy, in San Joaquin County, Rivera's journey to UCLA was anything but conventional.
The pandemic struck during Rivera's junior year at Kimball High School, and organized sports across California were halted. Rivera didn't just love competition; he craved it—so much so that he pushed himself to exhaustion, even as a 10-year-old playing Pop Warner football.
Gilbert Coronado, Rivera's youth football coach with the Tracy Buccaneers, witnessed his relentless drive firsthand. "Every game there was a brick given to the team's MVP of the day," Coronado recalled. "A real brick that weighed five pounds, attached with Buccaneers stickers. And every game, Rivera fought for the brick."
Coronado added, "He'd play the game of football so hard that his face would turn red. I'd have to tell him to stop and make sure he came out to rest because he never wanted to leave the field. He did it all for us."
When a family member gifted Rivera a pair of boxing gloves and a punching bag for Christmas in 2020, they were put to use almost immediately. The punching bag was set up, and the sounds of Rivera wailing away echoed through his family's house. His father, Sean, recognized his son's newfound passion outside of football and enrolled him in Muay Thai classes at the American Top Team gym in their hometown.
"I always liked martial arts as a kid," Rivera said. "At the time in high school, everything was shut down, I found ATT and had a lot of fun doing it. I saw other guys showing up for fights, so you wanted to sign up for one."
Rivera never displayed fear, even on the football field. Regardless of the stakes or the size of the opponent, his swagger remained unshaken. "At practice, he was a menace," Coronado said. "He was so coachable, and he understood everything we were teaching him, and we were running advanced schemes for these 10-year-olds. It was advanced even for high school. With Rivera, it was like we had extra coaches. He would figure out how to win that play and at the end of the day we dominated."
But Muay Thai was different—full hand-to-hand combat using elbows, knees, punches, and kicks to break an opponent, either knocking him out or making him quit. Rivera trained for two and a half years and yearned to fight.
He didn't tell the coaches at Cal Poly about his off-the-field activities: intense sparring sessions, two hours a day, and a weight cut from 175 to 170 pounds. Finally, the fight he craved was scheduled after he graduated high school. His family drove to Monterey, and the 18-year-old Rivera faced a 24-year-old opponent with a 1-0 record. Rivera, by contrast, was entering his first fight not knowing what to expect. It was an amateur bout with gloves, shin pads, and headgear required.
The walk to the mats for his fight was scary. Pumping adrenaline and early shades of self-doubt crept into his mind—until the bell rang and Rivera began throwing kicks and punches. From the early rounds, Rivera made clear he was the superior athlete and better-trained fighter. "The referee told me to dial it down a couple of notches," Rivera said. "You couldn't knock anyone out or else you'd be disqualified. So I made it more of a technical fight and just focused on landing and scoring points."
Rivera eventually won. The next day, he headed to San Luis Obispo to join his older brother Ryan playing for the Mustangs. It was the one season the brothers got to share the field.
Training Muay Thai has served as a lasting allegory for the challenges Rivera has faced over the past five years. His inexperience questioned his ability until he walked onto the mat and felt comfortable. "It was a big confidence boost and helped me transition," Rivera said. "Everyone was going to be bigger and stronger. I learned just because these guys are a few years older than you, you can still show you're more than capable."
That lesson serves Rivera now as one of the many defensive backs UCLA has deployed under Bob Chesney during its 4-0 start, punctuated Saturday by Rivera reading Maryland quarterback Malik Washington's eyes and picking off a pass in the first quarter. Rivera was a late addition to the Bruins and didn't begin practicing in Westwood until the summer.
Rivera adjusted and has learned to evolve his game alongside James Madison transfer Derrick Barksdale. The two players have compared notes, with Barksdale helping Rivera integrate into defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler's system. "We ask each other questions, and we talk about plays on film," Barksdale said. "At the same time, I feel like we match up. He's a competitor, and we all competed in the secondary. We match up pretty well."
Rivera's addition has given UCLA another layer on a team that touts its depth as a strength. He had the natural abilities all along and is showing how the Big Sky Conference can translate into successful Big Ten Conference players. All it took was one moment for Rivera to take advantage of the opportunity presented to him.
"All he needed was a shot, but he needed to get out of his own way," Coronado said. "He's just as big, just as fast. Once he understood he was good and he belonged in that type of tier, nothing could stop him. He knows he belongs and got out of his own way. He started believing in himself. We keep on encouraging him and he's benefitting off his own work."
All Rivera needed for his confidence was to step in the ring and fight. "I've made the most of every opportunity," Rivera said of coming to UCLA. "Every rep they gave me, I'm taking full advantage. I've embraced that role ever since I got it."
Originally reported by ocregister.