Before he committed to Penn State, Micah Parsons was on the wishlist of almost every top college program in the country. Nebraska, Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama were hoping to land the linebacker, but the Nittany Lions beat them all to land the Pennsylvania native.
Parsons had a dominant stint in college, which prompted the Dallas Cowboys to spend the 11th pick in the 2021 draft to acquire his services. He quickly established himself as one of the top defensive players in the league and became a fan favorite in Dallas. The 25-year-old is also enjoying life in Texas, but his time in the state has led to him regretting his decision to not consider moving there during his college days.
On Bleacher Report’s The Edge, Parsons and Atlanta Falcons star Bijan Robinson reminisced about their days on the recruitment trail. The Cowboys star revealed that the University of Texas was also among the programs keen on landing him, but he never visited them and committed to Penn State.
However, after spending four years in Dallas, he believes it was an error on his part not to explore the opportunity. Parsons said:
“I had got an offer, and I tell all my people to this day, I wish I took a visit [to the University of Texas]. Now that you know, David [Mulugheta]’s my agent, I’ve been down to Austin, and I’ve been on Sixth Street, and I see what the community is like. I’ve seen the game atmosphere, man, I tell people all the time, I wish I took a visit, like, because of my like, where I’m at in Dallas, I’m from, PA.” (from 14:36]
Soon after committing to Penn State, Micah Parsons realized that playing for a top college program wasn’t as rosy as he expected. Things got so bad that the linebacker considered leaving the team, telling Bijan Robinson:
“I almost quit football my first two months. It was that hard bro I’m not going to lie it was that hard. College kids got it so sweet now like I get NIL, I’m not jealous.
“I was in a 4 a.m. group like when we had to have like morning workouts at 4:00 a.m. like I was in that era of like like pain and suffering like before they kind of like tweaked it out, not didn’t make it as hard, yeah it’s sweet now bro.” [from 15:41]
However, Parsons persisted and played well enough to earn a spot on the Freshman All-American Team. In his sophomore season, he put every NFL team on notice.
Parsons finished the year with five sacks, five forced fumbles and five pass deflections in 13 games and won the Big Ten Linebacker of the Year award. He opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t return for his senior year. He instead declared for the draft, where he was picked 11th overall by the Cowboys.
