The odds are always stacked against players like Micah Parsons. You will never match the hype; you’ll never be quite as good as everyone says you could be. No matter how good you end up being, someone will have expected more.
But what if you are as good as they said you could be? What if you meet the hype? What if you exceed?
On Thursday night Parsons, was named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, a forgone conclusion by the time it was announced – Parsons is the only unanimous winner of the award in NFL history – but now officially, official. As Parsons took the stage a few fans shouted out “We Are” to which Parsons responded “Penn State” a reminder that his road to this moment is not far behind him.
If you travel backwards down that road, past all of Parsons’ rookie stats and impressive performances for the Dallas Cowboys, you end up back in the Dallas witnessing what would end up being his final game as a Nittany Lion, when Penn State beat Memphis in the Cotton Bowl on a rainy afternoon in no small part due to Parsons’ dominance. It was a masterclass in linebacking, a masterclass in how to change a game as a defensive player. It was one final note to a career at Penn State that was surging toward Parsons being perhaps the best defensive player in the country when 2020-21 began.
‘” don’t think he’s anywhere close. I don’t think he’s anywhere close to his ceiling. I don’t think he’s — I don’t think he’s anywhere close,” former Penn State defensive coordinator Brent Pry once said earlier in Parsons’ career.
But COVID-19 happened, and Parsons opted out of Penn State’s season to prepare for the NFL Draft. While the choice was pragmatic at the time and ultimately worked out in his favor at the end of the day, it also robbed Penn State and college football of what could have been. Watching Parsons fly around the field was to see someone do the very thing they were always supposed to do. It was a finely tuned machine roaring to life for six or seven seconds at a time.
Even further back down that road and you find yourself in Harrisburg, Parsons a kid with a reputation on the field and the occasional headache off of it. The story was always the same: Parsons could become something special if he didn’t get in his own way.
And he didn’t, perhaps partially in defiance of those who said he wouldn’t, partially because everyone is granted to opportunity to grow up a bit and sometimes people to choose to do exactly that.
“I learned about myself this past year,” Parsons said back in 2019. “I learned how to carry myself differently. I know that I can’t be that same goofy irresponsible kid in high school anymore. I had to grow up and be a student/athlete that could compete at a high level.
“I got to college and I was still a little goofy and coach [Franklin] will say ‘oh that’s just his personality’ but I’ve been a year and a half now and he’s definitely holding me to a higher standard. So I’ve got to grasp that standard and prove that I’m not that kid no more.”
Whatever the case, whatever the reasons, Parsons appears to have turned into the man, the player and young father that everyone thought he could become but nobody knew for certain if he would.
Parsons’ career is far from over. He will have to continue down a long and challenging path as one of the NFL’s rising stars. It won’t always be easy, and pitfalls will come along the way, but already he can hang his hat on at least one thing: he turned exactly into the player everyone thought he could become.
