Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1052705
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS No matter what the position – or the sport – Micah Parsons is driven to compete enn State's leading tackler through the season's first 10 games was also the headlining prospect from its most recent recruiting class, and this is just the beginning of the show. A top-10 nationally ranked prospect less than 12 months ago, Micah Parsons jumped to the front of the pack after making a team-high seven stops against Wisconsin on Nov. 10. Entering the Rutgers game, he was pacing the entire defense with 58 total tackles, the most of any freshman line- backer in the Big Ten, despite not yet being in the starting lineup. That will come soon enough. Parsons has some pretty large plans for the rest of his colle- giate career, goals that go beyond the depth chart, transcending the linebacker po- sition itself and maybe even the football field. Ask him, and he'll tell you he also wants to also play defensive end, run- ning back – and join the wrestling team. "Micah wants all those things right now," head coach James Franklin said. "Micah wants to play linebacker, he wants to play running back, and he wants to wrestle for Cael – and he's not kidding. He talked to Cael about it. He wants to do it all, and he wants to do it all yesterday. It's just [a matter of] get- ting Micah to understand: Let's focus on one thing at a time and get really good at that one thing before we put the next thing on his plate." A few years ago, linebacker Jan John- son joined the wrestling team to serve as a stopgap heavyweight. He eventually returned to the football team full-time and is the Nittany Lions' starting middle linebacker this season, but he was with the wrestlers long enough to compete in eight dual meets. So when another line- backer sought a tryout, it wasn't an un- precedented request. That it was Par- sons, a five-star prospect, may have caused some double-takes, however. Franklin first mentioned the idea at a recent news conference. Then, in early November, wrestling coach Cael Sanderson recounted a conversation with Parsons that took place this past summer. Sanderson recalled glancing at his phone and seeing a missed call from Parsons. The veteran coach had previ- JUDGMENT CALL P TURNING IT UP TO 11 Parsons pressures Indi- ana quarterback Peyton Ramsey earlier this sea- son. Photo by Steve Manuel