Titans chime in as Stephen Mast, 16-year-old aspiring Special Olympics athlete, blows up Twitter

Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story misstated Stephen Mast's age, condition, year in school and spelling of his first name.

A Hillsboro High School junior with Down syndrome has captured the attention of millions — including Titans coach Mike Vrabel — as the student trains for Special Olympics competition.

About 3 million people have watched a video on Twitter of 16-year-old Stephen Mast going through a weightlifting workout. (His name is spelled "Steven" on Twitter shout-outs, but his sister Kathryn Mast says the first name is spelled Stephen.)

More than a half a million of those have tweeted encouragement, including Vrabel and safety Kevin Byard, who wrote, "This is awesome! I'm sure he's going to place in every event."

Vrabel told The Tennessean that everyone can learn from Mast's perseverance.

"I hope that our team, as well as our coaches, can learn from him as we try to focus on what we can do as opposed to what we can’t," he said.

Mast got interested in working out when he watched assistant football coach Jerry Vanderpool lifting weights in the school gym, Vanderpool said.

Mast decided he wanted to bulk up, so Vanderpool and assistant track coach Tyler Anderson agreed to train the freshman.

Soon, the three became great friends, and Mast got some muscle definition, so he started taking off his shirt in the gym and looking in the mirror to check out his progress, Vanderpool said.

The coaches made a video and shared it online.

But it didn't go viral until Anderson's friend, 2010 Hillsboro graduate Balin Ali, 25, posted the video on Twitter and asked people to encourage Mast.

The tweet since has been shared more than 47,000 times.

"To see Steven getting all the attention is a great feeling," said Ali, an exec at the downtown Sheraton hotel. 

The two coaches say they love working with Mast because the teen's enthusiasm is infectious and seemingly endless. 

Most students think so too, and Mast is one of the most popular kids in the cafeteria, the coaches said.

"He gets lots of hugs," Vanderpool said.

The coaches and Mast hope the teen eventually will compete in the Special Olympics and maybe try out for Hillsboro's track team. In the meantime, they'll keep having fun.

And the students have fun with Mast, too.

The freshman's favorite WWE wrestling tag team is The New Day.

On Wednesday, Hillsboro football star running back Jacob Frazier came into the cafeteria with a New Day T-shirt and a replica champion wrestling belt for his buddy Mast.

When Frazier put the belt on his friend, several dozens students started cheering for Mast.

"Just seeing the joy on Stephen’s face every day is awesome," Vanderpool said.

"When Stephen pops off the bus, he’s running, and he’s on 100 percent the whole time."

Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384 or on Twitter @bradschmitt.