Two years ago to the day Micah Parsons committed to Penn State, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Well, he has looked back ever so slightly. Not because he regrets his decision. He loves Penn State and has quickly become one of the most recognizable faces within the program. But he does miss the ignorance of high school, because becoming one of the best linebackers in America has a price.
And that price is oftentimes the fun you once had.
‘You look at the bright sides and you look at all the accolades and look at all the things that I’ve done so early on,’ Parsons said on Friday. ‘But you look at all the times when we had a wake up at four in the morning. You get to the summer in a blistering heat, you squat 400 pounds you’re lifting heavy then you go run up the stadium stairs.
‘It’s easy to look at the accolades and be like, man college is so much fun, I can’t wait to get to college, but nobody sees all we be doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, even Sundays during the season, you know, so it’s it’s a non stop continuous drive. And I don’t think people understand that.’
For the Harrisburg native, his growth has come off the field as much as on it. Parsons is a personality, not afraid to share his thoughts, not afraid to talk his talk on the field because he almost always backs it up. All the same, he has looked to shed some of those preconceived notions you might have had about him: that he’s dramatic or that his recruiting process two years ago was some self-absorbed circus.
He wants you to know he works hard, that becoming a Butkus Award Finalist and an All-American wasn’t just talent. It was sacrifice and effort. It was early mornings. It was growth. It was maturity. He wants you to know it wasn’t a mistake but a choice.
‘People be like ‘I can’t wait to be at your level.’ I would say I said that once too, but enjoy it now because once you get to that level it’s completely different,’ Parsons added. ‘And you know, it only gets harder. So that’s right. Enjoy high school; enjoy middle school. Don’t be in a rush to get to it. Because when it comes, you’ll be like ‘man I can’t wait to be done with this.’ I was telling myself I can’t wait to leave the house, go to college, have so much fun at all the parties and do all that stuff. But I realized I don’t want to go the parties because I gotta wake up and go to this workout tomorrow.’
Two years after the fact Parsons has lived up to most of the hype. In truth, a five-star player is never really done chasing his potential and never stops having high expectations for himself or expectations projected on him by others. But he is no flop and his celling still appears to be miles and miles away. A good thing, and a scary thing.
What has he learned in the last 24 months? A lot. He’s learned what it means to grow up. He has learned how to watch film and see the field at a new position. He has learned how to learn, and how to listen better.
He’s also learned the inevitable fate that comes to us all with age: That we didn’t always appreciate the fun we had when we were having it. It’s something that makes you slow down a bit more and take it all in, something that makes you look back fondly at the times that used to feel so routine.
His advice to his younger self? Enjoy those moments more.
‘Stay in high school man,’ Parsons said with smile, talking to his younger self. ‘It’s your senior year — have fun. You know, do all those fun things that you wish you could do. You know? So when I was in high school, we had to come to practice at two or three so me and my friends would go to the store and get Chinese, go to Giant and get all this bad food and we’re like having the best time. I didn’t realize like, how much I will miss that you know, cause now I gotta be dressed and ready, at practice 10 minutes early for meetings. Then sit in meeting, so you know, when we watched film (in high school) we watched as a team. So you are not really taking it seriously. Now I’m like shoot, how many times I took that for granted, you know?’
Don’t get him wrong though, Micah Parsons might miss the relative laziness of high school, but he’s thriving in the grind at the collegiate level. He loves Penn State and two years after making the call he wouldn’t change the for the world.
You can miss the good times, but that doesn’t mean you regret the present.
‘I enjoy the brotherhood that I build with these guys, you know, enjoy playing in front of hundred thousand people,’ he said. ‘I enjoy how much of an impact I make on people. The difference I can make with someone, you know, I think that’s the only difference, that I really care about college. You know, obviously, you hate the grind, but you love how much you get better. Like, there’s a point of time, like my first couple months, dang, I really see improvements. I wish I’d done this earlier.’
Sometimes that impact comes at the bowling alley where Parsons likes to let off some steam. One night he was getting ready to let a ball fly and a fan walked up to him for an autograph. It’s a routine for Parsons these days but he still gets a kick out of it, so he says yes because he always says yes.
But not before answering the same question he always gets from a fan hopeful for a moment with one of Penn State’s biggest stars.
‘People always ask me, are you Micah?’ Parsons says with a laugh. ‘Who else would I be?’
