Welcome to Saturday Spotlight! Here, we dive deep into the lives of Ohio State student-athletes and learn more about their journeys to Columbus, their love of the Buckeye traditions and who they are as competitors and students.
From a young age growing up in Speedway, Indiana, Ohio State men's hockey sophomore forward Mason Jobst seemed to be focused on two things: finding ways to make money and playing hockey.
Now in his second year on the Buckeyes' roster, Jobst currently leads the Scarlet and Gray and sits second in the Big Ten with 49 points (17 goals and 32 assists) through 35 games this year — and with a series sweep of the Wisconsin Badgers on the line in the final game of the season Saturday night, Jobst and Ohio State lie on the edge of their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2009.
We sat down with Jobst to discuss his interest in studying real estate and flipping houses, being an author, and his inspirational advice incoming Buckeyes.
When did you realize you might have a chance to play hockey at the collegiate level?
Mason Jobst: When I was playing under-18s and I was talking to colleges and stuff at that point, and then definitely when I went to the USA trials. If you make it to that league, you have a pretty good opportunity to play Division One, so that’s kind of the timeline.
What drew you to come to Ohio State?
MJ: I know there wasn’t always the Big Ten (for hockey), but I always wanted to go a Big Ten school. Being from Indiana, we have Notre Dame but there’s not hockey, and I grew up watching IU basketball so I was watching the Big Ten and stuff like that. When the Big Ten was formed, it was kind of my dream to make it to one of these schools and I was fortunate enough to get to Ohio State which is the closest one to Indiana. So it’s awesome for my family and friends to be able to come and watch.
What is the best part about being a student-athlete?
MJ: Being apart of the Big Ten is a blast. All the things you have available to you outside of hockey, all the resources are amazing, all the people you meet and then obviously we have all these amazing facilities and stuff that kind of drew me here. It’s definitely an eye opener of how hard being a student-athlete is. You always hear about how tough it is, but it really is a grind — and it’s definitely preparing me for the future.
What’s been your best hockey moment in your career?
MJ: I’ll just throw it back to last year and that overtime winner against Michigan State (in the Big Ten tournament) was a pretty cool experience, for sure.
Do you or the team have any special superstitions?
MJ: I try to stay away from the superstitions. I feel like in juniors I was pretty superstitious, and it just gets kind of distracting. I guess the only thing is that I get dressed the same way. I put my left skate on first, my left shin pad, my left elbow pad, all that goes first.
What are you studying? What are your plans after you receive your degree?
MJ: Business Real Estate. I’ve always been really entrepreneur-minded growing up, always just kind of had my own little businesses and stuff like that. Even in the summers when I was injured, I was doing a lot of reading on how to make money and I was reading a lot on real estate — and back in the summers when I couldn’t train or anything, I was flipping houses. So that’s what kind of drew me towards it, and that was another deciding factor when I was coming to Ohio State is that they had a degree in real estate.
What’s your favorite part about/spot on campus?
MJ: Definitely the Oval. Anytime I have the chance to walk to another class through the Oval, I’m taking it — especially when it’s nice out and everyone is laying out.
What’s your favorite meal/restaurant in Columbus?
MJ: It seems like every time I go down to the Short North, I see another place I need to try — but I’m staying here this summer to train and stuff like that, so I’ll be able to check it out more. But I really don’t have an absolute favorite. I try to try something new every time I’m going out, there’s just so man.
What’s been your most embarrassing moment?
MJ: Probably my penalty shot my freshman year when I lost the puck and it almost hit the wall, then I went in and kind of just threw it into (the goalkeeper’s) stomach. That kind of sucked.
What’s something that not a lot of people know about you?
MJ: Something they don’t know is that I’m a two-time author. In Muskegon, we had a reading caravan where you go to elementary schools, and I wasn’t in school for two years so I was always going to schools and reading. Jay VandeVoorde, who is a great friend of mine, had been an author and decided that we were going to make our own children’s books to read to the schools. So my final two years, me and my closest buddies on the team and got together and wrote a couple books.
What is something you would tell an incoming student about Ohio State that you'd like them to know?
MJ: I found it on Twitter, but I really liked it. ‘Sleep more than you study. Study more than you party. Party as much as you possibly can.’
