UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Before he had the bar resting on his shoulders with a total of 365 pounds in tow, Micah Parsons was already dealt the weight of high expectations.
"Let's see what this 5-star got!" one teammate shouted from behind the squat rack. "This is the 5 star!"
Penn State's prized prospect strode forward, got his body under the bar and with a tap on the back from strength coach Dwight Galt he got started. With each rep and the accompanying screams, the freshman linebacker pushed through fatigue with his new teammates keeping a watchful eye. Those he's been living with and grinding through winter workouts with since enrolling in college in January cheered him on as Parsons' toughest critics counted aloud and jumped up and down to the blaring music as he cranked out 13 reps.
Welcome to college football, kid.
Micah Parsons with 13 reps at 365. pic.twitter.com/XMNG4Tt7pf
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) February 28, 2018
"When you come up here the stars disappear," Galt said Wednesday afternoon in the Lasch Football Building after the Lions completed their 30th workout since returning to campus after the Fiesta Bowl. "Micah came in and the older players have been great mentors to him and instead of being the 5-star, sixth-ranked kid in the country he became one of the guys. You would never know by the way he acts, he works just like everyone else and he’s fit in really well. Not a big talker, but he’s extremely motivated to be the best player he can be so it’s been a pleasure."
Parsons winning over his new teammates certainly was going to come with quite a few jeers as is always the case for the highest-ranked player in the class. That's especially true when the prize is one like Parsons, whose public recruitment was an up and down, back and forth, 15-round fight that wasn't sealed until it became binding in December and even that came complete with a ceremony that featured much fanfare.
James Franklin joked at the time that one day he'd write a book about the lengthy recruitment. For now, Parsons is penning his first chapter in Happy Valley and by all accounts it's so far, so good.
"He can run. He can jump. He’s strong. He’s powerful," said Galt. "He’s got all the ingredients that we would expect from him and that we saw in his film. ... I think the thing that everybody so far is really pleased with is that Micah has just had a great attitude. He’s one of the guys, he’s fitting in and he just freaking wants to be a part to help us anyway he can and that’s been the part that everybody has been really pleased about – not that we were expecting anything different."
College football was bound to humble Parsons and perhaps it will still have some work to do, but with each test that he passes he continues to win over those in the locker room. That will arguably be the most important part. Penn State wants to win, Parsons wants to win and so egos and rankings aside he could prove to be a difference maker that helps this team get back to where it wants to go. Penn State has a need at both middle and outside linebacker next season and Parsons will be among those who gets a first crack in the middle when spring ball opens on March 19.
If he's the type of player they envisioned, he'll contribute somewhere right away. If he produces the way he was projected to then in all likelihood he could be off to the NFL in three years, ready for his next challenge. Still, there's a huge gap to bridge between now and then and everyone -- especially those at Penn State and those at Ohio State, his other former finalist until that came to a screeching halt -- will watch carefully.
Undoubtedly there will plenty of eyes and cameras focused on him all spring and at the end of spring ball when he runs out of the Beaver Stadium tunnel for the first time wearing Penn State's iconic No. 11. The number that was once worn by LaVar Arrington will undoubtedly make the freshman a candidate for such comparisons whether warranted or not, but that's part of the path Parsons chose and if there's anything he's proven at high school and in college thus far it's that he's not one to shy away from challenges or criticism.
He seems to embrace both.
By the looks of it Wednesday afternoon as Parsons' eyes fixed straight ahead while Franklin jockeyed for viewing position on top of the bench behind him, this was another boxed checked. Parsons left the squat rack with encouraging slaps on the back from teammates and leaned on them until he had his legs back under him. He stood up, exhausted -- just like everyone else.