Micah Parsons, Penn State’s 245-pound linebacker, wants to fulfill a dream by returning kickoffs

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Micah Parsons is a 6-foot-3, 245-pound linebacker who has a dream.

He wants to return kickoffs for Penn State. Well, at least one.

“I’ve got a 50-50 chance,” the sophomore from Harrisburg said Saturday at the Nittany Lions’ media day. “I’ve got to prove it. I’ve got 28 more days, I believe, 28 or 29 more days” of training camp.

“I just want one chance to return one, that would make my dream. I just want one chance.”

Parsons, who was a versatile, multi-talented player at Harrisburg High School, excelled on special teams last season, in addition to being the Lions’ leading tackler as a freshman. He said he will put the work in to be a return man, at least a deep partner to KJ Hamler, the team’s top return man.

“It’s not convincing” coaches, he said. “It’s just working at it, understanding the schemes. It’s just like any other position. You’ve got to learn the schemes, you’ve got to be good at it, and you’ve got to keep working at it.”

Hamler said he’s all for Parsons returning a kickoff – one, that is.

“I’m going to let him get one,” Hamler said. “If he doesn’t show me something on one return, you can just ask (assistant coaches Ja’Juan Seider and Joe Lorig) what they’re going to say.

“He’s big and fast. It’s a scary thing to see. But I’ll give him one shot and see what he does.”

Lorig, the Nittany Lions’ special teams coordinator, said a lot of Parsons’ kickoff return talk is “him joking around.

“He knows his role,” he said. “I think he knows that he can be a great blocker and be a great returner and have added equal value on both sides of it, and I think he buys into that. I think sometimes he’s just messing with us, just joking around.”