QB Magazine Athlete Feature

The season was already over. That is what makes the number strange.

After his regular year wrapped up, Mason Halbleib joined an All-Star team and played three tournaments. Across those three weekends, he threw for a thousand yards and twenty touchdowns. His team did not lose a game.

“We went 12-0 and won all 3 tournaments,” the Class of 2032 quarterback said.

Twelve games, twelve wins, three trophies, twenty touchdown passes — with a roster he had not spent a season building chemistry with. All-Star football is essentially a test of how quickly a quarterback can make strangers work, and Halbleib passed it three times in a row.

Three Fractures

The other number in his file is less fun.

“In my 2022 season, halfway through the season I fractured my right foot in 3 spots,” the North Oldham Middle School sixth grader said. “I had to sit out for 6 weeks.”

Six weeks is most of a youth football season. For a kid, it is also six weeks of watching from the sideline in a walking boot while the team you were supposed to lead plays without you — which at that age can be the thing that quietly ends a player’s interest in the sport.

He came back before the year was out.

“After my recovery I came back and won the championship.”

Two sentences, one broken foot, one title. He does not elaborate, and he does not need to.

Take the Criticism

Ask Halbleib what a quarterback actually needs, and the first thing he lists is not arm strength or football IQ.

“I think the qualities you should have as a QB is to be able to take criticism,” he said, “being smart about the game and reading defenses, being dedicated to the game.”

Take criticism comes first. That is a rare thing for a twelve-year-old to volunteer, and it is arguably the single best predictor of whether a young quarterback keeps improving. Coaching only works on players who can hear it.

He has put that to use. He trains with Align Athletics, has worked with Grant Caraway at First Down Training, and attended QB Universe in Indianapolis this year — three separate sets of eyes on his mechanics, all of them presumably telling him things he did not want to hear.

Eight Years, One Dream

Halbleib has been playing tackle football for eight years, which is most of his life, and he says the goal was never in question.

“I’ve always had a dream of being a quarterback.”

What he enjoys about it now is split evenly between the social and the technical.

“What I enjoy most is the brotherhood and having fun with my teammates,” he said. “I enjoy getting the ball to my wide receivers and reading defenses and being the leader of the team.”

Getting the ball to his receivers is listed before anything he does himself. It is a small thing, but quarterbacks who describe their favorite part of the job as distribution tend to be pleasant to play with.

His favorite pro is Josh Allen, and the reason is partly self-recognition.

“I admire his character and his style of play. I feel like my style of play is like his.”

The person he credits most is his dad, who he says has supported him and helped him through his entire career — a simple answer, given without qualification.

The List

His goals are specific enough to check off, which is the useful kind.

Short-term, he wants to make the Kentucky Future Stars team — the state’s middle school all-star program — and earn an invitation to the FBU Top Gun camp. Long-term, he wants to make varsity next year at North Oldham.

All three are selections. Every one of them depends on somebody watching him play and deciding he belongs. Given that he just spent an entire postseason throwing twenty touchdowns for a team that never lost, he has made a reasonable case.

A Note on Memberships

Mason already has a real record behind him — a thousand yards and twenty touchdowns across three All-Star tournaments, a 12-0 run, and a championship won after six weeks in a boot.

Heading into the fall, an upgraded QB Magazine membership adds a professionally designed athlete graphic, feature placement across QB Magazine’s channels, and a profile that grows season by season as he does. With Future Stars and Top Gun on his list — both of which come down to being seen — having that record in one place, updated as it happens, is a natural fit rather than something to assemble later.

Explore membership options at quarterbackmagazine.com/memberships.

Mason’s QB Magazine profile: quarterbackmagazine.com/profile/mason-halbleib · Instagram: @mas_is_a_dawg · X: @_Mason_Halbleib