Scheller College of Business accounting professor Deborah “Debby” Turner gestures to the front row of the Ronald L. Martin classroom. “These spots are almost always empty. Often, students don’t want to sit right in the middle, right in front of the professor,” she said during an interview with Atlanta news station WSB-TV.
However, she remembers standout student-athlete Shaquille “Shaq” Mason from one of her 2014 Spring semester classes because he did.
Often hailed as “one of the finest football players to ever come out of Georgia Tech,” Mason was a part of the Yellow Jackets team from 2011 to 2015. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft. The offensive guard saw play immediately his rookie year and is set to make his third Super Bowl start when his team plays the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII on Sunday at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mason returned to Tech this week as the Patriots practiced at Bobby Dodd Stadium ahead of the big game.