Just days after pitching a perfect game in the Legion baseball state tournament, Mason Palmer suited up his pads for football practice.
This is a seasonal routine for Palmer, who’s now a senior. After advancing to the state basketball championship each of the last two years, he had to dive right into baseball. Rinse and repeat with the start of football season.
“It’s not really tough. It just a different switch for me,” Palmer said. “It’s just like, I do different things in the gym according to what sport I’m in. Getting my body prepared to play that sport is just different.”
Palmer owns the spotlight for Devils Lake in all sports seasons. He made the all-state second team in basketball. He’s the baseball team’s three-hole hitter and most dominant starting pitcher. He can also throw 90 miles per hour from shortstop to first base.
Now, he’s in his final season as Devils Lake’s starting quarterback.
“It’s always a benefit,” Firebirds football coach Todd Lambrecht said of Palmer’s multi-sport versatility. “And he strives others to play up to that high energy level. He pushes them and expects them to do so.”
This summer, Palmer went on official visits and received offers to play baseball for Minot State University, Mayville State University and the University of Minnesota Crookston.
But he also attended multiple football camps during the Legion baseball season.
“I am keeping my options open,” Palmer said. “But I am probably leaning towards baseball.”
At about six feet tall and 185 pounds, Palmer would be considered undersized by most college quarterback standards. He doesn’t have a ton of natural height for basketball either. Of the three, baseball is probably the sport where natural size matters the least, especially for a middle infielder.
Right now, football is the focus. But the choice will ultimately come down to Palmer and where he feels he can best apply his skills in the future.
“He’s gonna decide what he’s gonna decide, and I’m gonna support him 100%,” Lambrecht said. “I always want the best for my guys. And if [baseball]’s where he feels like life needs to take him, then that’s where he’ll go. I just focus on the ‘now,’ and hope for the best, always, that my guys have good opportunities down the road. And he’ll have a few. And when he makes his decision, I’m happy for him and support him.”
In a sense, Palmer has nothing to lose. He’s long since established his role on the team. It might be his last season playing competitive football, and it might not. But he’s the main guy who the Firebirds know they can rely on — and the rest of the pieces will fall naturally into place.
“Just go out and be him,” Lambrecht said of what he wants to see from Palmer. “He’s got good weapons around him. He’s got good receivers. We’ve got a pretty decent line and a solid running back. So he just needs to go out and just be him, and just play.”
Palmer no longer has all-state wide receiver Oliver Wirth to throw to. But he does have his twin brother, Max Palmer, who has a bigger role in the wide receiver group this year. The senior quarterback also praised the consistency that Weston Nelson, Coby Dronen Levitt and Domingo Engberg have shown.
Palmer said he wants to “make better reads and get more completions, and just make more plays, really, for my team” this season.
He’ll also play one last season with Bryar Exner, Devils Lake’s senior running back. The two are already comfortable with each other’s tendencies from past years. Just as importantly, both are healthy after sustaining injuries last fall. Exner should complement Palmer as a major piece as the season continues along.
“I expect big things out of him this season,” Palmer said. “He’s put in the work, and he’s grinding at practice.”
Whatever his future holds, Palmer has one last handful of games to show what he can do on Friday nights in front of raucous crowds at Joe Roller Field. It’s the start of a big year for Palmer — one last high school season in each sport before he heads off to college and beyond.