Mason Fine becomes North Texas’ all-time leading passer

Mason Fine, the quarterback who was deemed too short for Division-I football and had only one FBS offer out of high school, is now North Texas’ all-time leading passer.

Fine entered the game against Old Dominion 16 yards shy of Mitch Maher’s mark of 8,519 career passing yards, set in 1994. Fine surpassed the record with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Rico Bussey Jr. during the Mean Green’s first drive of the game.

“Somebody’s gotta be in second place,” Maher said earlier this season. “It’s great. I’ve had them long enough.”

Fine, a junior, still has three games and another season left in his career but already holds UNT’s career records for passing yards, completions, passing efficiency and the most games with at least 300 passing yards. He needs 11 touchdown passes to surpass Steve Ramsey on the career passing touchdowns list. Ramsey has held the record since 1969 with 69 passing touchdowns. Maher is second with 67.

“He’s gonna smash them,” Maher said. “Unless North Texas gets another quarterback who’s gonna play another three or four years, he’ll hold them for a long, long time. But good for him. It’s great.”

Last season, Fine broke school records for most passing yards and touchdowns in a season with 4,052 and 31, respectively, on his way to becoming Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year. He’s nearing his own single-season touchdown mark with 21 so far this year.

“It’s a great feeling to feel this successful,” Fine said earlier this week. “You just bring back all these people back then that told me I wasn’t going to be successful, I wasn’t gonna be able to play at this level. To be able to play at that high level, it means something to me and just shows that the hard work’s paying off so just keep working.”