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Standout sophomore season lands Parsons on AP, ESPN All-American teams

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Micah Parsons' big second season as a Nittany Lion was rewarded in a big way Monday.

Already named the Big Ten's Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, Parsons was announced as Associated Press and ESPN All-American selections. With the honors, he became Penn State's first sophomore to be named an AP first-team All-American since LaVar Arrington in 1998, the first since Saquon Barkley's 2017 selection, and the 101st first-teamer in program history.

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Via Twitter, Parsons credited his teammates for helping him achieve the honor.

"God is truly amazing! I’m so blessed to be apart of this team and apart of this LBU brother hood! There’s nothing like it in the country!! #WeAre #LBU

"This is a team accolade because I wouldn’t have gotten here without them!"

For the second time in as many years, Parsons led the Nittany Lions in tackles, finishing the regular season with 95 to go along with his 11.0 tackles for a loss, plus 3.0 sacks, three pass breakups, three quarterback hurries, a fumble recovery and two forced fumbles.

The accomplishments just build on a foundation Parsons set a season ago when he started just one game but broke out as Penn State's leading tackler. Asked this summer whether or not he was ready, with all of the preseason hype growing around him and expectations growing with them, Parsons left no room for misinterpretation.

"Of course. Always ready. Born ready. I watch Randy Moss. He's like, I was born ready. I came out of the womb ready. Back when Randy used to play, he's like, I don't need to stretch. I'm not stretching today. I'm already ready for practice. It's about to be intense today," Parsons told BWI. "So I like to take that Randy Moss standpoint today. I don't need to stretch. I do need to stretch. All this lifting I do, I gotta get a little tired. I guess we gotta loosen up a little bit. But that's the perspective I take. I was born ready. In the game, I'm born ready. There's nothing to be scared about."

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