He was born on July 3, 1985 in San Pedro, California. He currenlt plays as a place kicker in the USC Trojans.

He shares the same passion for football like his father Joe, who was a placekicker at Washington State (1972-74) before playing in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers (1975), New York Giants (1976-82) and Buffalo Bills (1983-84).

Mario prepped at San Pedro High, where he played football and soccer. Where he was an All-L.A. City first team linebacker as a senior in 2002. He was a redshirted first-year freshman walk-on placekicker in 2003.

In the 2004 season, he was a freshman reserve placekicker.

He earned a scholarship in the fall of 2005 and won the starting placekicking job as a sophomore, setting records in the process. Recorded hits 83-of-86 PATs and 11-of-12 field goals. He set the NCAA, Pac-10 and USC season records for PATs and PAT attempts. He was 17th nationally in scoring. He hit his last 11 field goals after missing his first-ever try. He made 2005 All-Pac-10 honorable mention. He also won USC's Co-Special Teams Player of the Year Award. While his career got off to a quick start as he tied a USC game record by hitting all 9 of his PATs at Hawaii in his first USC action. Then, for the second week in a row, he set the USC game record by hitting all 10 of his PATs versus Arkansas.

In the 2006 season, he returns for his second season as USC's placekicker as a junior.