LOS ANGELES — Easton Mascarenas-Arnold was angry. Football gave him something no other sport could: an outlet.
The idea of consistently hitting and trucking your opponents became a release for his anger.
“When I play good, I play mean,” Mascarenas-Arnold, middle linebacker for USC, said.
Raised by his mother, Toni Arnold, a former college softball World Series champion, sports were always at the center of the Mascarenas-Arnold household. In line with her career as an athlete, Toni named her son after the branded baseball bat Easton.
From a young age, Mascarenas-Arnold was always the largest kid on his team.
During youth flag football games, Toni sat on the sideline, and heard opposing team parents holler, “Who is that man child?” At the dinner table, the name held true, as Mascarenas-Arnold regularly devoured multiple plates of his mom’s pot roast and rice.
At his size, Mascarenas-Arnold could try anything.
To his mom's satisfaction, he tried baseball. "It's too slow,” Mascarenas-Arnold said. He also tried basketball. “I wasn't any good at it,” Mascarenas-Arnold said.
But football stuck out to Mascarenas-Arnold.
“For me, being a linebacker, it is not all sunshine and rainbows. You got to go out there and smack somebody,” Mascarenas-Arnold said.
Mascarenas-Arnold, 22, fuels his aggressiveness on the field by making it a goal to not let opponents spoil his and his team's objectives.
“Imagine somebody stole something off your plate. They are trying to score and get in the end zone. We got to stop them,” Mascarenas-Arnold said.
The intensity with which Mascarenas-Arnold plays has transformed a once-underperforming USC defense into a reliable unit for coach Lincoln Riley. He joined the Trojans in the spring, transferring from Oregon State after three seasons.
The Trojans' scoring defense ranks 47th, holding opponents to 22 points per game. In addition, USC is the 73rd-best total defense in the nation, allowing 370 yards per game.
Last season, the Trojans' defense was the polar opposite, ranking 119th in total defense and 121st in scoring.
“He had a good aggressiveness about him early on, and he wanted to be a part of the changes we wanted to make,” coach Lincoln Riley said.
“He has been leaving it all out there not just as a player, but a leader.”
Before stepping on a football field, Toni helped direct Mascarenas-Arnold down the right path. With his mother's teachings, Mascarenas-Arnold directed his anger towards a disciplined work ethic.
“My inspiration is my mom,” Mascarenas-Arnold said.
Attention to detail started with chores. Since he could walk, Toni had him make his bed every day.
“Seeing how he could probably make [football] a goal of his and a lifelong dream of his, I started instilling that [work ethic] in him,” Toni said.
Toni even went as far as becoming her son’s personal trainer. When he first started playing, Toni said he was a “terrible flag puller.” So, she began borrowing flags from his football coach for extra training time.
Day after day, Mascarenas-Arnold and Toni could be found sharpening his flag-pulling abilities in their backyard. Little did a young Mascarenas-Arnold know the extra work he put in afterhours would shape a fruitful collegiate career.
The work and competitive juices only flowed more freely when he found worthy opponents: his siblings. When Easton was eight, Toni began dating her now-husband Junior Arnold, and Mascarenas-Arnold went from being an only child to having six siblings.
From that moment, he earned a brother and teammate for life in Akili Arnold. Before they shared names, the two both played together on the Mission Viejo Cowboys.
“[Easton] was just always the biggest kid on the field,” Aliese, Mascarenas-Arnold’s stepsister, said. “He was just a year younger than Akili, but he looked like he should have been on Akili’s team.”
The brotherly bond worked as a motivator for both. Whether they were playing on Xbox or in the backyard, they were always competing.
“I think [Akili’s] personality brought Easton's competitiveness more out,” Toni said.
From Pop Warner to high school football at Mission Viejo, Mascarenas-Arnold dedicated more time to improving his body and mind. In football, there is a saying: “It's 80% mental and 20% physical.”
When Mascarenas-Arnold got to Oregon State, he built up that 80% in the film room.
“In high school, you think you know football, but at the end of the day, you are running around making plays,” Mascarenas-Arnold said. “Being in college, I have learned a lot about football and schemes.”
In November of last year — the Friday night before the Beavers’ showdown against Washington — Mascarenas-Arnold was headed to the team hotel for the night. But he made a pit stop first.
Alone in the quiet Oregon State football facility, the linebacker sat dialed into film of the Huskies.
His uncle C.J. Arnold was in town, trying to find Mascarenas-Arnold. C.J. comes from a football background himself, having played and coached at the collegiate level. He found his nephew in the film room.
That night, the two sat breaking down the film of former Huskies and NFL rookie receiver Rome Odzune and left tackle Troy Fautanu. C.J. let Mascarenas-Anrold do all the talking, picking his brain of what he saw from Washington.
“It was fun to hear him talk about the game and how in-depth he was and how deep he was on the scouting report,” C.J. said.
“When you see him really start to talk about football and go into detail, the passion comes out.”
C.J. always tries to be an uncle first, and then coach. Occasionally, he offers his two cents to Mascarenas-Arnold.
Yet, there is nobody more critical of Mascarenas-Arnold than himself. “He is his biggest critic… that’s why I do not need to say much,” C.J. said.
Mascarenas-Arnold’s work ethic off the field led to a 2023 First Team All-Pac 12 selection. In 2023, he led Oregon State in total tackles (107) and tied in interceptions (2).
The production has carried to USC during his senior season, where he leads the team in tackles (74) and interceptions (2). In October, Mascarenas-Arnold recorded a career-high 14 tackles versus Minnesota.
When the shoulder pads and helmet come off, Masceranas-Arnold has a soft side. At 6-foot, the wrap tackles become bear hugs off the field.
“Easton is a big teddy bear at the end of the day,” Aliese said. “He's the most loving person.”
Any chance Mascarenas-Arnold gets, he drives down to Mission Viejo to visit his Nani and other family. With a closer commute than Corvallis, the linebacker’s clan returns the favor, filling the stands at every game.
One day, Mascarenas-Arnold hopes to upgrade his family to NFL seats, taking the next step in his football journey.