Blue White Illustrated

J U N E 9 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2 "Personally, that was one of the first times that I was able to really sit down with Coach Franklin and have an ex- tended conversation, face-to-face," Ter- rance Parsons said. "We've met before, but we never really had a long talk about everything. Micah came up there a lot on his own. "We went over a lot. We talked about the future of Penn State and what they've already done since they've been there. We talked about what Micah could do for them and what he means, throughout all of Pennsylvania. It was a good talk. I've always respected Coach Franklin. He's a straightforward guy." In addition to his talk with Franklin, Parsons and his father were able to spend plenty of time with defensive coordina- tor Brent Pry and defensive line coach Sean Spencer. However, their most no- table meeting of the day was with Penn State's academic advisors. "The academic meeting was probably the part that I liked seeing the most," Terrance Parsons said. "That's big for me. He wants to study criminology, and I've either been on visits before or heard about situations where schools try to push their players toward other majors that aren't as hard. Some schools would rather have 30 guys in one major so they don't miss time with football. "I want to make sure my son is studying what he wants to study, so that was a good conversation. That's not an issue with Penn State. If you look around, a lot of their players are doing all kinds of dif- ferent majors. They make sure that, no matter what you're studying, you'll get the help you need." Parsons announced at the end of May that he's focused on nine schools: Penn State, Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State. Most believe that Big Ten rival Ohio State is the team to beat, but this recruitment is also expected to drag on throughout the summer and fall. "I don't care where he plays," Terrance Parsons said. "I want him to just be com- fortable and be happy with whichever school he chooses. I do want to make sure that he's getting a quality education. High school to college is a big jump. If he misses one or two classes in college, that's a big deal. That can't happen if you want to play, so I want to make sure he finds a school that stays on him and mo- tivates him. He's still a kid." Penn State is expected to host nearly all of its top prospects in July for the Lasch Bash barbecue. It's unclear whether Par- sons will be in attendance, as he's also planning to visit Alabama and Ohio State when the dead period ends. Visits to Florida and Florida State are also in the works. Official visits are expected to follow this season, and although it's unlikely that Parsons will use one of those visits to check out a school that's only about an hour's drive from home, it is likely that he and his father will return for at least one of Penn State's big games this sea- son. "I'm a Penn State fan," Terrance Par- sons said. "Like I told Brent Pry when I was leaving, there's no ill will at all here. We love those guys up there. I just want to make sure that if my son goes there, it's because he wants to go there. I don't want him to do it for me because I'm a fan or do it for his mom because it's close to home. "I want him to do it because that's truly where you want to be." THE CLASS OF 2018 RIVALS SCHOO NAME POS HT WT RATING* HOME SCHOOL Nana Asiedu OL 6-5 260 ★★★★ Stafford, Va. North Stafford Trent Gordon DB 6-0 175 ★★★★ Manvel, Texas Manvel Isaiah Humphries DB 5-11 185 ★★★ Sachse, Texas Sachse Bryce Effner OL 6-5 270 ★★★ Aurora, Ill. Metea Valley Patrick Freiermuth TE 6-5 250 ★★★★ North Andover, Mass. Brooks School Charlie Katshir LB 6-3 190 ★★★ Mechanicsburg, Pa. Cumberland Valley Zack Kuntz TE 6-7 218 ★★★★ Camp Hill, Pa. Camp Hill Jesse Luketa LB 6-3 225 ★★★★ Erie, Pa. Mercyhurst Prep Justin Shorter WR 6-4 210 ★★★★ Monmouth Junction, N.J. South Brunswick Antwan Reed OL 6-5 334 ★★★★ Muskegon, Mich. Muskegon Ricky Slade RB 5-9 195 ★★★★ Woodbridge, Va. C.D. Hylton Nick Tarburton LB 6-4 240 ★★★★ Perkasie, Pa. Pennridge * As rated by Rivals.com

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