Will Matthews and Mason Shipley: Chasing Perfection, Building Habits, and Embracing the Longhorn Atmosphere

Longhorn Nation, meet Mason Shipley. Will Matthews sits down with Texas kicker Mason Shipley to talk about his journey from Texas State to the Forty Acres, what it felt like to step onto the field at Ohio State and inside DKR, and how he’s embracing the Longhorn community. Mason shares how he chases perfection, why daily habits matter as much as game-day execution, and what fans can expect from special teams heading into Week 3. From the energy of Bevo Walk to the lessons from his coaches, Mason’s gratitude and mindset shine through as he reflects on the opportunities and challenges of playing at Texas.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What if you think about the first two games, has
everything been for you?

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Yeah, first games are awesome. I mean the environment, especially
in the first game. I'm just crazy, not nothing like
I've experience, but yah, know it it's really cool environment atmosphere.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I mean it's awesome, like being a fan of that
kind of thing. How was it going into the horseshoot
outside of the you know the result at the end?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, no, Yeah, it's an unbelievable atmosphere just going there.
I mean it felt really cool, just being able to
get on the field and and just look at everybody
and and see all like cool faces. But I mean,
you know, at the end of the day, we're there
for for jobs. So unfortunately didn't get the outcome we wanted,
but hopefully we get it again.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
As you continue to embed yourself inside of this Longhorn community,
have you started to connect well with a lot of
the guys. It's a really good group of guys.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, I know, y I I I see so many
like alumni and and what I'll just like walking everywhere
and I'll try to meet as many people as I can,
right cause I mean, you never know, help you out
later down in the road and so yeah, it's pretty cool.
I mean it's crazy, like seeing everybody in Austin, like
this whole area and it's just the ut. It's it's crazy,
but it's really cool.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
So moving forward into game three one in one and
stepping up the intensity, what can we expect from you
and and the special teams this week? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
So special teams, I mean, we just strive for perfection
and excellence. That's what we do. And and coach back
said something really good to us actually the other day,
like the the the push for perfection, Like it's exhausting, right,
but in the end, it's worth it. So I think
that's just you know, we we're held to a standard
to be the best that we can be, right, So

(01:43):
I think from specialist aspect, you just expect us to
be the best that we can be, right, whether that's
making every kick or pinning every pun inside the twenty,
whatever it may be, We're gonna do the best we
can to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
And when you say perfection, I mean, you know it's
pretty difficult to get to that. We don't it's hard
to get there. But for you, what does that look like?
Is it your process throughout the week or is it
just the game day experience.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think it's everything in like in everyday life, how
you do anything, so how you do everything? I mean
you hear that a lot. And then a big one
that my pass coach actually had was like your habits
reflect the mission, right, So whatever that mission is, your
habits better reflected or I mean your mission spunt up
to be very good. So I think, especially like my
habits at home, right, what I'm not doing away from football,

(02:30):
are those reflecting like what what the on the field
experience is? Right? So I think just holding myself to
that standard is is really big for me.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
First game in dk R last week. Talk to me
about the experience and the atmosphere there.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, it was really cool, especially like the Beava walk
and just seeing everybody. It's super cool. It's a lot
different for me than being at Texas State, but it's
really humbling, like and I'm super blessed to be in
this position right though. It is it's a super cool
opportunity that I feel like not many people get in
a lot of people wanna be in my shoes, right,

(03:06):
So I think just think about that every day, like
it makes me super grateful, Like how many people wanna
do what I do right like, how blessed am I
to be able to do do this?

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Mason, thank you so much for your time and good
luck this week.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Appreciate it. Yeah,