In first start, Micah Parsons displays growth beyond his athleticism

Nick Scott couldn’t remember all the words to the Micah Parsons metaphor.

The Nittany Lions’ freshman linebacker used it to describe how he wanted to evolve as a player throughout his time at Penn State when the two first spoke at the season’s onset. Scott did remember that Parsons didn’t hold back his ambitions, just as he doesn’t hold back with his play.

“Basically, his point was, ‘Right now, I’m extremely aggressive like a killer,” Scott recalled. “I want to be aggressive, I want to make the play, but I may leave the scene a mess… And he said, ‘By the time I get out of here, I want to be a trained assassin. I want to get the job done. I want it to be extremely clean. I don’t want there to be any messes or anything I have to clean up.’”

Parsons won’t be able to tell his version of that story for a while, as true freshmen at Penn State aren’t made available to speak with the media.

But his play on the field Saturday in a 20-7 win over Rutgers offers a sufficient idea.

Parsons flew around the field as he always does, steamrolling his way to seven tackles, his first full sack and a forced fumble after making the first start of his career. He earned the starting nod after Cam Brown committed a “small violation of team rules” and didn’t play until the second half.

“I think it juiced him up a little bit,” fellow linebacker Jan Johnson said of Parsons’ first start. “He definitely played a pretty good, pretty solid game.”

Though it didn’t really feel like much, if anything, had changed.

In truth, Parsons had been doing this nearly all season. His 57 snaps against the Scarlet Knights were only seven more than he played last week against Wisconsin. He leads the Nittany Lions in tackles despite beginning each of the first 10 games on the bench.

“It was good,” James Franklin said. “He’s been playing a bunch of reps anyway so it wasn’t really dramatic.”

So what’s changed with Parsons aside from a starter label that seems like it might have been a one-time thing?

Most of his teammates will tell you about his ability to fly to the ball, his ability to fill the gaps in the defensive line.

Defensive tackle Robert Windsor went so far as to say he modifies his game at times when Parsons plays behind him, with the knowledge that he can get a little bit of an extra push off the line of scrimmage because he knows Parsons will fill any gap left behind.

But Scott has begun to notice a change in Parsons that might be more significant than any of the previously stated physical attributes.

Parsons might be evolving as an assassin, and faster than anyone could have anticipated.

“I thought that was a great analogy, and I can see his growth,” Scott said, “from being a killer and just wanting to go get the ball and maybe leaving his gap, to now just trusting his eyes, his rules and everything like that and still making a play.”