Mason Dionne is happy to be back on the Hi-Line

For many, college can be the most chaotic and confusing time in a person's life. For example, Montana State University-Northern football player Mason Dionne has been on quite the journey during his college career.

After graduating from Havre High School, Dionne decided to play college football for the Bulldogs at Montana Western. But after the 2020 season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, he eventually decided to transfer to MSU-N in time for the 2021 fall season. A year and a half into his return home, Dionne has enjoyed returning to the Hi-Line to play college football.

"It's been fun. I really like it here," Dionne said. "The coach has been great. The guys here are awesome guys. It's been the best so far so I'm loving it."

But transferring schools is not the only adjustment Dionne has had to make over the last few years. After the 2021 fall season, the Lights went through a coaching change with head coach Jerome Souers now taking over the program. While changes like these might be a lot to take in for most players, Dionne has taken them in stride.

"The change has been pretty easy just because of my coaches. They made it a lot easier for me," Dionne said.

The biggest adjustment for Dionne over the past few years has been his position switch. When he signed with Western, he planned on playing linebacker for the Bulldogs. But after transferring to MSU-N, Dionne switched to running back, a position he played frequently in high school. While relearning how to play running back has been an adjustment, Dionne believes he has transitioned well.

"I was obviously worried when I was making that choice but I made it and it all came back to me very fast," Dionne said. "It's been good so far and I missed it a lot."

After many changes through the past few years, Dionne hopes to play some strong football on the Hi-Line again. Dionne is best remembered by local football fans for his 2019 season with the HHS football team. In his senior year with the Blue Ponies, Dionne earned Class A all-state honors and Eastern A first-team honors as both a linebacker and as a running back.

Dionne will look to find renewed success under his new head coach Souers. Northern's head coach took over the Lights after a long tenure as the head coach of Northern Arizona University where he amassed the most wins in Big Sky Conference history. As he has gotten to know Souers, Dionne believes he is the right man to lead the program.

"He's awesome," Dionne said about Souers. "He wants to make sure you're always ready to go, to have that energy every day and makes you work for it. He's a good person who makes sure you're doing alright every day."

Over the past week and a half, Dionne and the Lights have been hard at work under Souers with the MSU-N fall football camp. As the Lights have begun preparation for the fall season, Dionne has enjoyed putting the pads back on and spending time with his teammates.

"It's been nice getting back into football shape, getting back around the guys a lot more and making sure everyone's doing alright," Dionne said.

The Lights will begin their season Aug. 27 with a road game against the College of Idaho. Over the past five years, the Lights have been on hard times with only one win in the Frontier Conference to show for their efforts.

As he heads into his redshirt sophomore year with the Lights, Dionne wants to help the Lights overcome that adversity and become a winning program. But regardless of the wins and losses, Dionne looks forward to getting out on the field with his teammates.

"(I look forward to) just playing with these guys. These guys are awesome," Dionne said. "We all care about each other. There's always a group of us around each other and it's going to be fun balling out with these guys."

The past few years have seen many changes for Dionne. From first leaving home to play for Western to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, then coming back to Havre to play for MSU-N and then dealing with a coaching change after his first season back, Dionne has seen plenty. But over those years, Dionne believes he has matured and grown, making him a better player and a better teammate for the Lights.

"Just being grown up. Not doing immature things, making myself accountable for my mistakes and my actions," Dionne said about how he has grown through the years. "I felt like that has got the eye of my coaches and they feel like I'm more grown up."