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we just ate a little bit more. You never know." The game completed, Parsons' standout regular season was equally fulfilling. With a bowl game still to come, he has ac- cumulated 95 tackles on the year, 45 solo and 50 assisted, while making three sacks and 11 tackles for loss, along with three pass breakups, three quarterback hurries, a pair of forced fumbles and a fumble re- covery. But those, of course, are just the statis- tics. There are some other items on his re- sume. In only his second year playing the po- sition – he was primarily a defensive end in high school – Parsons became the first sophomore to win the conference's Line- backer of the Year honor. He was also a first-team All-Big Ten selection by both the conference coaches and voting media, a Butkus Award finalist, a semifinalist for the Bednarik Award, and he earned a spot on Pro Football Focus's first-team colle- giate All-America squad. Arriving at Penn State with the lofty ex- pectations that inevitably follow a con- sensus five-star designation from the recruiting sites, Parsons made his mark as a freshman and has been easily surpass- ing those benchmarks as a sophomore. He has captured the attention of fans and media at Penn State and throughout the Big Ten and now is starting to make his imprint on the national college football conversation. Parsons has been measuring himself against the standard he set as a true freshman in 2018. He finished as the Nit- tany Lions' leading tackler that year, making 83 stops despite starting just one game. It was an impressive debut, but even so, the strides he has made since then have been considerable. "I think I'm playing completely differ- ent," Parsons said. "I think I'm playing much faster. I'm recognizing what's going on around me. I feel like I'm coming clean a lot. I'm not second-guessing myself. I've been trying to attack the ball this year. It just comes with experience and growth. And I just feel like I've got to keep growing." James Franklin has seen that growth, too. And as far as the Nittany Lions' head coach is concerned, the best thing about Parsons' steady progress is that there are no indications that he's even close to reaching a plateau. "I think he's getting more comfortable and more confident every day and taking more control," Franklin said. "The excit- ing thing for us and for Micah is that I think he's got a lot of room for growth. I think fundamentally, he can get a lot bet- ter. I think in terms of commanding the defense and leadership, he can get a lot better. "He is nowhere near his ceiling, he re- ally isn't, and he's improved dramatically. But the exciting thing is that there's a lot more left in the tank." With defensive captains Brown, John- son and safety Garrett Taylor all set to wrap up their Penn State careers in the Cotton Bowl, Parsons said he intends to use his personality more to the benefit of the rest of his position group and even the team as a whole. He's already prepar- ing for a future that is likely to include big contributions at linebacker from the likes of Charlie Katshir, Brandon Smith, Lance Dixon, Ellis Brooks and Jesse Luketa, and he knows that he'll be counted on to serve as a leader of that group. "I feel like I need to try to help pick up the defense when we're down. Try to make that play. Try to be that voice for the guys, especially the young guys," Parsons said. "I was just talking to Lance about it: What do you want to see from me next year? How can I help you grow? What would help motivate you to make you be great?" Parsons is motivated to continue the personal improvements that helped turn him into a key player in the Nittany Lions' climb from 9-4 in his debut season to 10- 2 in 2019, with a big bowl still on the docket. He's optimistic about the trajec- tory he's on, both as a rising star in college football and as a member of a team with very big goals. Going 10-2 during the recently com- pleted regular season "means a lot," Par- sons said. "It means we're headed in the right direction. I said last year, we would- n't be in that predicament. I've still got another two years, and I feel like I can get us to where I want us to be and finish stronger." ■ I t doesn't take much for a great athletic career to go sideways in college. It does- n't matter what you did in high school or how you did it, and it definitely doesn't matter how many stars the recruiting services awarded you when it was over. There are pitfalls awaiting five-star prospects and walk-ons alike. Linebacker Cam Brown knows just what a minefield the college game can be. As a fifth-year senior at Penn State, he's seen some of his teammates fall prey to those career-derailing forces. "I feel like [the difficulties] are differ- ent for each person," he said. "It's not something you can put a finger on and say that development in college is hard because of this. Some people are strug- gling mentally because they're away from home. Some people struggle phys- ically. Some people struggle with the de- mand itself; [they] have to ask themselves if they really, truly love foot- ball. That's what college teaches you, and it makes you [understand] the difference – if you love football or if you just love being a football player." Last month, Brown was one of 16 sen- Nittany Lions' fifth-year seniors persevere to give program a boost | C O T T O N B O W L P R E V I E W

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