Penn State football commit Micah Parsons eyeing a return to wrestling mat – PennLive.com

Micah Parsons showed there wasn’t much he couldn’t do on a football field last season while leading Harrisburg to a state title appearance.

Then, he showed impressive athleticism, throwing down tomahawk dunks, on the basketball court.

And he says he’s not done displaying his athletic versatility. 

Parsons is planning to run track — aiming for a spot on the 4×100, 200 meters and 400 meters events — this spring, according to his father, Terrence. 

But his biggest splash could come next winter when he said he hopes to continue playing basketball while also making a return to the mat, where he was a star wrestler during his youth.

Juggling the sports won’t be easy, but Parsons believes it can be done.

“We’ll figure something out,” he said.

The 6-foot-3, 235 pounder is rated as the fifth-best junior football player in the country by ESPN.

He committed to Penn State, for that sport, in February 2016.

But Terrence said Micah began wrestling around the same time that he began playing football.

“I signed him up when he was 4 or 5,” Parsons said. “We were there in Harrisburg, and it was only like $10.”

And, he  said, he believes his son can be a contender if he does return to wrestling.

And he’s not alone.

Cole Nye, who won a pair of 220-pound state titles for Bishop McDevitt, is one of the last guys to wrestle Parsons.

The pair faced off for the 187-pound state title in the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling association in 2013.

Nye won that match, but, he said, if Parsons follows through with his intention to wrestle, he is a good enough athlete to make an impact.

“He will make some noise,” Nye said.

And, for now, Parsons said his eye is on making that happen.

He said he hopes to cut to 220, and chase a title.

“I just miss wrestling and competing,” he said. “It’s my senior year, and I don’t want to say I didn’t try.

“You regret, not what you did, but what you didn’t do,” he added. “I don’t want to have any regrets in my high school career.”