In depth on Parsons and Luketa:
https://247sports.com/college/penn-...-2018-football-season-120766648/#120766648_10
Freshman LBs Luketa and Parsons pushing to play
ByTYLER DONOHUE 16 hours ago
No position on the Penn State roster has produced more speculation this year than linebacker. The Nittany Lions entered spring practice needing to replace a pair of full-time starters. Then, at the beginning of preseason camp,
one of them returned.
Penn State coach
James Franklin, assessing the situation through 11 August practices on Wednesday, indicated his staff is gaining clarity.
"I think we are closer to making some decisions at linebacker. ... I think we've got a good group," he said. "We just got to get them to mature and gain as much experience early on as we can."
Game experience isn't an issue for seniors
Manny Bowen and
Koa Farmer, who've both logged substantial snaps in Big Ten battles. Program veterans such as junior
Cam Brown and redshirt juniors
Jan Johnsonand
Jarvis Miller have also drawn positive reviews from Franklin. So has redshirt freshman
Ellis Brooks.
But when you examine this linebacker group and focus on the latter portion of Franklin's comments — regarding experience and maturity — it's difficult not to focus on freshmen
Jesse Luketa and
Micah Parsons. Franklin has specifically pointed to their progress multiple times in camp, re-confirming a sentiment that is steadily increasing in the LaschBuilding: this duo is special.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves projecting what the tandem may accomplish in a Nittany Lions uniform, let's review the path that brought both to Penn State and the reasons excitement continues to rise.
LONG-TERM TARGET
Last December, Parsons became the highest-rated Penn State signee since 2005. His announcement at Harrisburg (Pa.) High School concluded a roller-coaster recruitment that never seemed certain to end in Happy Valley.
"I've been coaching 23 years, and the book (on my experiences in football) will probably be five chapters on my career and then 15 chapters on the ups and downs and twists and turns, and the journey of Micah Parsons and the commitments," Franklin said hours after receiving Parsons' signed National Letter of Intent. "The second-guessing, and all the people that felt like they had an opinion in this, and what he should do or shouldn't do."
Three years earlier, during his first season with the Nittany Lions, Franklin extended a scholarship offer to Parsons. It was Nov. 24, 2014.
Penn State was 6-5, coming off a loss at Illinois. Parsons was a high school freshman, and it was his first college offer.
During this recruiting process, the coach became a Big Ten champion and the player emerged among America's premier prospects.
Along the way, Parsons provided Franklin with an initial building block for a 2018 recruiting class that evolved into the program's best of the 247Sports rankings era. He committed to Penn State in February 2016, midway through his sophomore year.
TWISTS AND TURNS
In a development that was well-documented on this site and across the industry, Parsons suddenly backed off his verbal pledge one day after attending the 2017 spring game alongside several members of an expanding class. Trips to schools such as Alabama, Nebraska and Ohio State soon followed, but the Nittany Lions never faded too far in the five-star recruit's rear-view mirror.
“You know, we never said that wasn’t going to be the place. He just wanted a little peace,” his father, Terrence Parsons, said last September. “Before he de-committed, he reached out to Coach Franklin and said, ‘If I de-commit, is my offer still on the table?’ Coach Franklin said. ‘Until you tell us you don’t want to come here, your offer is still on the table.’
“Regardless of whatever my son’s been through, Franklin and his staff have never wavered. Through it all, they’re still in his corner.”
(Photo: Harvey Levine, Scout.com)
The process ultimately came full circle, as Parsons picked Penn State — again — and enrolled at the university only weeks later.
“Micah isn’t a stranger to State College, so I’m looking forward to his commitment on signing day because our family is about to get better,” Luketa said leading up to the highly anticipated announcement ceremony.
This was the kind of confidence reflected in conversations with Luketa throughout his lengthy Nittany Lions commitment. Make no mistake — he was the leader of a recruiting class loaded with alpha personalities.
“You’ve got to have a stable guy to lead the point in recruiting all the guys and holding them together,” Penn State defensive recruiting coordinator Terry Smith said last December. “We, as coaches, we’re kind of like parents. The recruits will hear us to a point, and then they’ll want to hear from their peers. That’s where Jesse really played a major factor and held this class together. (He) kept them optimistic and upbeat.”
INTERNATIONAL AMBITION
That positive outlook was required for the journey that led Luketa to Mercyhurst Prep (Erie, Pa.) and eventually Happy Valley.
A first-generation Canadian and the son of an African immigrant, Luketa left his home in Ottawa at 15 years old for an opportunity to earn attention from college coaches. His first season resulted in all-region accolades at safety but Mercyhurst coach Jeff Root moved him to linebacker in 2016.
“The first thing he said was, ‘I’m going to watch film on Penn State linebackers because they’re the best in the country.’ Boom, that was his plan,” Root recalled.
Luketa earned all-state honors the next two seasons and was named Pennsylvania Class 3A Defensive Player of the Year last year. He fulfilled a lofty goal — offers arrived in bunches — and pledged to Penn State in February 2017.
“When I crossed the border (into the United States) a few years ago, I left all my family and friends back home and just dedicated myself to pursue my dreams and take a big step,” Luketa said shortly before joining Parsons and four other early enrollees on campus in January. “I’ll be living out my dreams in Happy Valley.”
STRONG START
Penn State's freshman class has tremendous upside but, although Franklin has already described this group as "really advanced", we won't truly have a grasp of its impact until the early 2020s. For now, everything is based on early impressions.
By all accounts, Luketa and Parsons have started strong.
"(Parsons) is so hungry," Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Brent Pry said at his recent Media Day press conference. "I got three texts on my phone right now. We just had a walk-through this morning and he's over there watching film. He's very eager and he loves to compete."
Dwight Galt, Penn State’s director of performance enhancement, provided a glowing review of Parsons during the final stretch of winter workouts.
“You would never know (about his recruiting prowess) by the way he acts," Galt said. "He works just like everybody else; he’s fit in really well. Not a big talker, but he’s extremely motivated to be the best player he can be."
Each affirmation of Parsons' work ethic and team-oriented attitude chips away at a public perception established during the course of an occasionally dramatic recruitment.
“There were all of these red flags aboutMicah Parsonsfrom an off-the-field standpoint," Barton Simmons, 247Sports director of scouting, said this week on the 247Sports College Football podcast. "Is he going to be coachable? It wasn’t anything specific. It was just sort of this kid who seems to need some direction. He’s an early enrollee. He gets on campus, and it’s been absolute rave reviews. You just never know. He gets on campus, and he’s been a model student, a model teammate and really has embraced the Penn State team."
(Photo: Sean Fitz, 247Sports)
Meanwhile, the mentality that made Luketa a valuable leader last recruiting cycle has aided his transition to life as a collegiate student-athlete.
"You leave home at that age and somewhat on your own, I think that creates some of that (maturity)," Franklin said. "Then with him being able to graduate early, it just magnified all of it. I just think in general he's a pretty mature, heady kid."
The last eight months have also revealed a high level of dedication from Luketa in nutritional and training aspects that play a pivotal role in personal development.
"He's really changed his body," Franklin said. "If you guys look at him, he's much more lean right now. He's quicker. His functional movements are really, really good. I'm pleased with him."
Like Parsons, Luketa is listed 6-foot-3 and in the 235-pound range. The latest members of Linebacker U look the part.
TEAM LEADERS TAKE NOTICE
Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley has dealt with fearsome defenders throughout his college career. His initial close encounters with Parsons suggest future pain for opposing passers.
"The dude's around the ball all the time," he said. "That's a testament to his motor and his athleticism. ... Being able to run through blocks, around blocks, chasing down ball-carriers."
McSorley has witnessed the teachable moments you'd expect for a linebacker who spent most of his prep career in a three-point stance, but he's also seen dazzling flashes.
"As a young guy, he's sometimes a little bit out of position as he's learning the defense and learning the scheme but what always kind of tends to make up for it is that he's playing with an extremely high motor," McSorley explained.
Shareef Miller, a returning starter at defensive end, took his Parsons evaluation to another level.
"I've never seen a linebacker play sideline to sideline like that kid," he said.
(Photo: Harvey Levine-FOS/247)
“Micah — you would never know that he’s never played linebacker before," Franklin said. "He can find the ball. … Now we’ve got to get him more consistent in terms of being in the right gap, (using) the right leverage and those types of things, but he can naturally find the ball.”
Hype that has surrounded Parsons for several years won't be validated on the practice field but camp could provide a springboard toward memorable performances in Beaver Stadium, as early as September. Pry acknowledged the freshman has put himself in a promising position weeks before Penn State opens its season against Appalachian State.
"He knows this isn't going to be just handed to him," Pry said. "He knows he's got a lot to learn to have a chance to get on the field and for us to win with him. He takes coaching very well. I like the way the relationship is going, from recruit-turned-player, and I think that if he continues to trend the way he's trending, he's got a chance to help us this year."
The same outlook can be applied to Luketa, based on comments Franklin made this week.
"Jesse Luketa is making a move," he said.
(Photo: Sean Fitz, 247Sports)
Franklin again referenced strides since Luketa's enrollment.
"I think that semester here early for him has really been beneficial," he said.
A combination of physical traits, mental aptitude and rapid progress suggests an immediate impact may await this autumn. Long-term, Luketa has the makeup of a defensive leader.
"He's smart," Miller said. "He really knows how to learn the defense and read everything."
THE BUZZ IS BUILDING
While some Nittany Lions fans are only now gaining familiarity with Luketa, many have been waiting to watch No. 11 run out of the tunnel for a long time. Fair or not, expectations are in place for Parsons to deliver a legendary career that rivals the kind of legacy built by LaVar Arrington, a man who previously wore the number.
Hot takes in the Twitterverse, routine references to rankings and media enterprises catering to recruiting fanatics can create a greater level of pressure on college football newcomers than ever before. Parsons, perhaps as much as any freshman player in America, will be under the microscope all season.
Franklin, discussing his freshman class in general, understands that isn't easy to ignore.
“This recruiting process, I think it sometimes creates false expectations for the fans and for our players and for their parents and for their communities," he said.
Those covering college football at the national level, like Barton Simmons, are spreading the word far beyond Central Pennsylvania.
"If Micah Parsons gets let loose rushing the passer, I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re Wisconsin. That dude’s going to be a factor," Simmons said. "It’s really exciting to see Micah Parsons stand on the straight-and-narrow and get it done on the field. He is as talented as anyone in the country in the 2018 class.”
Embrace the excitement swirling around Parsons as much as your heart desires. Overlook Luketa's intangibles at your own expense.
The guess here — sometime soon, they'll share a spotlight big enough for two.
(Photo: Harvey Levine-FOS/247)
