Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/983252
A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME icah Parsons made an apparent rookie mistake a few weeks ago when he failed to show up for Sociology 119, a class he was taking as part of his first academic semester at Penn State. Leaving aside the importance of the missed lecture, the mistake was to assume that his absence would go unnoticed. It did not. In fact, the exact opposite happened: It went viral. In a bit of unfortunate timing for the freshman linebacker, the day that he picked to miss class was the day that coach James Franklin decided to show up unannounced to take attendance. Franklin called out the names of the football players who were en- rolled: Journey Brown… Brelin Faison-Walden… Zech McPhearson… Juwan Johnson. The coach asked his players to stand up one at a time, briefly admonishing anyone wearing a hat or a hoodie. When he got to Parsons, there was no response. As his classmates looked around, an ominous murmur filled the room. "Where's Micah Parsons?" Franklin asked. "Is he even here?" He was not. And this being 2018, it was all cap- tured on cellphone video and immediately up- loaded to the internet. It's possible, of course, that it was an excused ab- sence. But even so, the moment was mildly embar- rassing for a program that never misses an opportunity to extol its commitment to academics, and it will presumably result in some sort of be- hind-the-scenes rebuke from the coaching staff Micah Parsons is one of many freshman athletes who are poised to make an early impact on Penn State's athletic fortunes | M S P E C I A L S E C T I O N