Micah Parsons Feels Ready to Lead Penn State's Linebackers
On Micah Parsons’ quest to become a leader inside a youthful Penn State linebacker room, he has no shortage of resources.
He’s had conversations with Cam Brown, Saquon Barkley, Trace McSorley and others as he prepares for the 2020 season, when he’ll strive to go outside his comfort zone to fill the role left by Brown and Jan Johnson — another one of Parsons’ role models.
"It’s always a challenge when you’re stepping into a bigger role,” Parsons said. “I was just telling Ellis [Brooks] this the other day, I said it’s going to be completely different. I’m going from the guy who never said anything to the guy that’s probably got to speak up more.
“It’s going to be a challenging year for me, but it can’t do nothing but help me grow. It’s a challenge that I got to be willing to accept and a challenge that I got to be willing to grow into to do what we want to do this year, so it’s something that I’m really looking forward to and excited for.”
As the only returning starter among the linebackers, circumstances have made the transition to leadership all the more challenging for Parsons.
Away from his teammates for the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, Parsons couldn’t hold his teammates accountable in the same way that he might have had everyone been on campus with activities in full swing.
“You don’t know who’s really paying attention,” Parsons said. “You don’t know who’s really working out as hard as they possibly can, so it’s hard to really monitor. But we get this chance to come back and get in the flow of things during these voluntary workouts, and we’re just going to go from there.”
Parsons, who will make his return during the second phase of Penn State’s plan next week, is looking forward to what he thinks will be a heated battle for the two starting linebacker spots vacated by Brown and Johnson.
Brooks was listed as the starter at the Mike linebacker role on the spring depth chart, with Jesse Luketa listed as his backup, while Brandon Smith topped the Sam linebacker depth chart, just above Lance Dixon.
“It’s going to be a crazy competitive room this summer, this camp,” Parsons said. “I personally can’t wait to see who’s going to win the jobs out of those four. All of them are hardworking guys that are going to come in and really compete for jobs.
“They all have different edges, what they’re good at, and they’ve just got to use their strengths and go 100 percent in camp and win the job.”
Defensive coordinator Brent Pry said he thinks this linebacker corps can be the best he’s had while at Penn State if the young talent can make the leap.
“There’s some development that has to happen with Brandon, with Lance,” Pry said. “I think Charlie Katshir’s ready to open some eyes and show people he can play linebacker at this level. I think we’ve got a heck of competition with Jesse and Ellis, to see who can kind of take that Mike spot, at least initially.
“And then we’re all excited to see what Micah does in year three.”
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