Blue White Illustrated

Sophomore linebacker Micah Par- sons recently became the first Penn State player since Saquon Barkley in 2017 to receive All- America honors. Parsons was named a second- team Walter Camp All-American fol- lowing a regular season in which he totaled a team- leading 95 tackles, including 11 tackles for loss and three sacks. Parsons was also named a sec- ond-team All-American by The Ath- letic, as was tight end Pat Freiermuth. Earlier in December, Parsons was named the winner of the Big Ten's Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year award and was a first-team All- Conference selection. He became the first sophomore to be named the league's Linebacker of the Year and the third Nittany Lion to claim the award, joining Michael Mauti (2012) and Mike Hull (2014). Parsons was also a finalist for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation's top linebacker. Among Penn State's other All-Big Ten selections on defense were Yetur Gross-Matos (first team – coaches and media), Shaka Toney (second team – coaches, honorable mention – media), Robert Windsor (third team – coaches, honorable mention – media), Cam Brown (third team – coaches, honorable mention – media) and Tariq Castro-Fields (honorable mention – coaches, third team – media). Jan Johnson, John Reid, Garrett Taylor and Lamont Wade all received honorable mention notice from the coaches and media. Gross- Matos was also a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award. On offense, Penn State had seven All-Big Ten honorees. Leading that contingent were Freiermuth, Steven Gonzalez and K.J. Hamler, all of whom were named to the second team by the coaches and media. Sean Clif- ford, Michal Menet and Will Fries received honorable mention nods from both the coaches and media, while Journey Brown was an honor- able mention choice of the media. On special teams, Blake Gillikin, Jake Pinegar and Hamler all received honorable mention notice from the coaches and media. Gillikin was also selected to the Academic All-America Division I first team as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America. ■ PARSONS HUB-Robeson Center, On-Campus A W A R D W A T C H C O T T O N B O W L P R E V I E W

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