UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- As a kid made his way through the Lasch Football Building locker room Saturday afternoon passing one stall after the next he asked his dad where the locker was for Penn State's No. 11.
Many more people will be on the lookout for No. 11 -- the number assigned to five-star freshman Micah Parsons -- once spring ball opens next month, but until then the freshmen -- including Parsons and the five other January enrollees -- are getting acclimated to college ball. While that means morning workouts, lifting sessions and an entire playbook to digest, but it also includes the annual rite of passage that is the dancing with their classmates in the Thon pep rally.
While the Bryce Jordan Center was packed as Penn State's 46-hour no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon carried on Saturday night, all of the school's varsity athletic programs participated in the pep rally in one way or another. For those who weren't on the road at competitions that meant putting together choreographed dances, something that Parsons and his football teammates seemed to take all in stride.
The Thon dance from the freshmen Penn State football players. pic.twitter.com/NbkhAQrSut
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) February 18, 2018
Yes, that's freshman defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos sporting the Nicki Minaj look while dancing with Parsons at the end. The men's gymnastics team took home the pep rally crown during the annual event that featured guest judges in former Nittany Lions Jesse James, Stefen Wisniewski and Anthony Zettel.