Mason Mims was not permitted to meet with the media on Monday, but the new starting quarterback at ETSU was still the central topic of conversation at the first game-week press conference of the 2026 season for the Bucs.
Two players accompanied coach Will Healy to his meeting with local media, and Mims, who was named starter a few weeks back, was not one of them. A sophomore, Mims joined the team through the portal after redshirting last season at Louisville.
Healy, when asked if he was more protective of his QBs on this team with respect to media appearances, didn’t deny it or skirt the question. Part of it appears to stem from Mims’ demeanor. Both Healy and the players who did attend the press conference, tight end Charlie Browder and defensive end Brenden LeBlanc, described Mims as more quiet and having to learn how to be a vocal leader.
“Sure,” Healy said. “It’s not necessarily Mason’s forte. Putting him behind the mic, I wanted him to be able to come out of a shell a little bit more. He’s gonna have to be behind the mic on Saturday after this game’s over with, and he’ll be prepared for it. … Know our offense. Develop a relationship with our players. Lead your offense first. And then we’ll make you the face of the program and you can go behind the cameras.”
It was a different story last year with the main quarterbacks heading into the season, Jacolby Criswell and Cade McNamara. “They’ve done this a million times and they’ve been in front of hundreds of media, right? Mason has not been in that role,” Healy said, noting he would not have taken the same approach had Jadyn Davis, who transferred in from Michigan, beaten out Mims for the starting job.
“Mason is now prepared for it. I wanted him to kind of get himself right first and be prepared for it and feel like he earned it before he was thrown in front of the cameras.”
Healy reiterated the qualities that allowed Mims to separate himself in the competition for the starting job: consistency, efficiency, growing leadership, and continued improvement. “I thought it was important just with Mason’s personality to make him the guy,” Healy said. “He had earned it from, I thought, how he produced and his efficiency and consistency in practice. I thought instead of going another two weeks where you kind of left your team wondering who’s our leader … thought it was important that we eliminated some of that indecision and put him in a leadership role and I think he’s responded really well.”
“We’re not going to ask him to go be Joe Montana week one but I think he’s got a tremendous skill set and he’s performed very well and I think he gives us the best shot to have success.”
Browder, a Kingsport native who is entering his sixth year of college football and has played previously at UCF and Tennessee, compared aspects of Mims’ game to Gaston Moore, a quarterback for the Vols during some of Browder’s time in Knoxville.
“He throws it around a little bit like Gaston,” Browder said. “I’m super fired up about Mason.
“He’s not the most talkative guy, but he came to work every single day and he’s just willing to learn. As an old head, I can go over there and talk to him and say, what are you thinking here? He’ll ask for my feedback on stuff too. I think he realizes the position he’s in. I think since he’s been named the starter, he’s taken a step in that leadership aspect and trying to take hold of the offense.”
Injury report
Staying with the quarterbacks, Healy said Davis currently is the backup. Jake McNamara, a returnee at signal caller, is out with an unspecified injury. That moves Jackson Byrd to the third-string spot on the QB totem pole, for now.
“Jake has been injured and has been out for a while,” Healy said. We’ll see what his timeline is with returning.”
Healy also shared that junior offensive lineman Brodie Bass, a transfer from the junior-college ranks, is going to miss the entire season due to injury.
No more redshirts
With the NCAA moving to a 5-in-5 eligibility model over the summer, it changes the way every college athletics program manages its roster. Under the pre-existing rules, a football team could redshirt a player if he appeared in four or fewer games. Now, there are no redshirts.
This reporter asked Healy how the new eligibility rules affected roster management. His response:
“For us five of our first six games are at home right so you may have travel limitations based off a budget but, you know.,that North Carolina game you can travel 105 guys if you wanted to, right?” Healy said, referring to the Bucs’ scheduled trip to Chapel Hill on Sept. 12. “So you really have six games before you would have to make true decisions on who’s on your travel roster and so a lot of those guys have an opportunity to be on kickoff return or punt block to get them some experience on special teams. That then helps them you know be a little bit more comfortable if we got to put them in the game I think it’s really important. You no longer have to worry: OK, I’m gonna play these guys in two games and I need to save them for the last couple games in case we have injuries. Everybody is available.
“Last year I think we played 88 players on some type of either special teams or offense or defense and so you’ve got 105 guys and 106 guys on your roster right now. We’re gonna have 85 90 guys that’ll play for us this year.”
Lineup picture clears
ETSU did not release a two-deep for Saturday’s season opener against Campbell, and may not until game time. Still, certain aspects of the pecking order are starting to coalesce.
Charlie Browder looks to be a lock to start at tight end with LeBlanc at defensive end. Sam Browder, Charlie’s brother, appears set to start at left tackle after he arrived via the portal from Memphis.
During the players’ turn meeting the media, LeBlanc said junior defensive lineman Mason Ball, a native of Elizabethton, was going to start. So is KJ Gillespie, a true freshman from Mooresville, N.C., listed at the Jack position. Another guy listed at a Jack on the roster, junior Charles Woodard figures to start at defensive end.
Browder Sandwich
It’s the final year of college football for Charlie Browder, but he gets to go out playing alongside his younger brother — often literally. They often line up side by side, given their positions.
“Having some combo blocks with him is really cool,” the older Browder brother said. “Charles Woodard always says something and if we’re lined up next to him, he’ll say, ‘Here comes the Browder sandwich.’ ”
The rarity to play his final season with one of his siblings at the Division I level does not appear to be lost on Charlie.
“I think being brothers, we can get pissed off at each other naturally because we’re brothers, but it’s been really cool to go through this whole experience with him,” Browder said. “I’ve spent more time with him this year than I’ve had in the last five years of mine.”
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