Change in high schools changes life of Troy’s Addison

TROY — Mario Addison was in ninth grade and had just been suspended — again — from Carver High in Birmingham. That’s when his mother made a crucial decision.

She pulled him out of Carver, away from his friends and further away from the threat of gangs, gunfire and violence. Addison, now a junior defensive end at Troy, originally wasn’t pleased.

Now, he’s thankful. The decision likely saved his life.

“I’d still be in Birmingham (if not at Troy),” Addison said. “I’d be in jail, or sad to say, dead.”

Addison has come alive on the Troy defensive line over the past two games, recording a total of three tackles for loss in recent wins over Western Kentucky and UL-Monroe.

When WKU’s offense was hot in the first half, Addison had a sack and a tackle for loss that stalled drives. Playing time has been sparse behind standout seniors Cameron Sheffield and Brandon Lang, but Addison is earning more of it.

“He could probably be starting for most people in this conference,” defensive ends coach Randy Butler said. “When you’ve got Cam and Brandon, I’m going to ride that horse as long as I can.”

The move to Tarrant didn’t pay immediate dividends. Addison couldn’t play football his sophomore year because he was in and out of alternative school. He was still adjusting to getting away from “the hood,” a place he holds near to his heart, but at the same time was a place he needed to get away from.

“It’s the hood,” Addison said. “I love the hood because I grew up there and all my friends were there. That’s how I ended up going to Carver. I had my ups and downs in it. It was tough, but at the same time I knew everybody around there so that made it easier.”

He became an offensive threat once he got on the gridiron and away from trouble, earning the nickname “Super Mario” from the Birmingham News after a five-touchdown performance his junior year.

He signed with Troy out of high school as an athlete but was placed in Northeast Mississippi Community College. He played linebacker as a freshman and emerged as a defensive end prospect as a sophomore, and he re-committed to Troy after turning down interest from UAB and Florida State.

“They are the ones that sent me to junior college, and they were checking on me the whole time,” Addison said. “I told the other schools to go on back out because they were wasting their time.”

Not long after Addison signed with Troy, Butler took the defensive ends position, not knowing what he would get.

“When I got here, I didn’t know anybody here,” Butler said. “(Defensive coordinator) Jeremy (Rowell) was going down the list and said we just signed a guy out of junior college and said he’s probably the only one on the team that has the kind of burst that (former Troy and current NFL star) DeMarcus (Ware) had when he was here.

“When he mentioned that, it lit my eyes up.”

Addison redshirted last year to learn the defensive end position more and to give himself more playing time at the back end of his career. Of his 21 tackles this
year, six have gone for a loss.

Next year, he’s expected to start and show the playmaking ability that earned him his nickname.

“I’m going to be all over the field next year,” Addison said. “I’m going to put it all on the line every play and play hard.”