Fine, who is one-quarter
Cherokee, grew up in
Peggs, Oklahoma. He has Cherokee lineage on both sides of his family and is an enrolled citizen of the
Cherokee Nation. According to a 2020 story by
Yahoo Sports journalist Jeff Eisenberg, Fine's development as a quarterback began in the summer before his sixth-grade year, during which he attended a quarterback camp at the
University of Oklahoma. The young Fine paid special attention to former Oklahoma star quarterback and then-current Sooners assistant
Josh Heupel, observing Heupel's throwing motion and paying attention to the advice he offered. During each day's drive home from the camp, he wrote down what he had learned. After the camp, Fine and his father Dale typed up the notes, and he went so far as to place a printed copy next to his bed. Fine was initially trained by his father, who had never played football at any level. Each day, the two would teach one another proper throwing motion via the notes they took at the aforementioned camp. In Eisenberg's story, Dale recalled, "It was hours and days and months and years of repetition. The motto we went by was that it wasn’t just practice that made perfect. It was perfect practice that made perfect." By the time Mason finished his eighth-grade year, they no longer worked on his mechanics. The following summer, he attended a quarterback camp at which an instructor praised his throwing motion and asked about his quarterbacks coach. Eisenberg noted, "The instructor couldn’t believe it was his dad, let alone that Dale Fine had no previous football experience."
Recruitment Despite his gaudy high school statistics, Fine finished his senior season without a single
scholarship offer, largely due to his lack of size. During a summer camp before his senior season, an assistant for
Arkansas State pulled him aside, praising his arm strength and ability to escape a collapsing pocket. However, he then told Fine that his small size made it unlikely that he would ever play at a
Division I FBS school, instead offering to recommend him to
Division I FCS or
Division II schools. Fine would tell Eisenberg, "I was polite and told him that I appreciated it, but inside I was fuming." This coach was not alone in his sentiment; Fine went without an offer even after sending out numerous highlight tapes and attending camps at four other FBS schools.
Rice showed strong interest after Fine's junior season, but went with a considerably taller prospect;
Oklahoma State recruited him only as a
walk-on, and did not make him an offer even after its main quarterback target rescinded a verbal commitment to the school; and when Hennesy called
Kansas State's Bill Snyder about Fine, Snyder responded that he didn't recruit quarterbacks under 6 feet tall. ==College career==