Micah Parsons: The best LB in college football

According to Pro Football Focus, Micah Parsons finished the 2019 season as the highest-graded linebacker in America.

Penn State sophomore linebacker Micah Parsons has received some strong praise this week, a week after the National Championship. Analytics website Pro Football Focus (pff.com) recently stated that due to his performance in the Nittany Lions’ Cotton Bowl win over Memphis that Parsons finished the season as the company’s highest-graded linebacker overall.

Per their rankings of the ‘Top 101 best players in college football from 2019,’ Lead College Football Analyst Cam Mellor selected Micah Parsons as the 31st-ranked player from this past season. Parsons was preceded by PFF’s choice for the Butkus Award at No. 30 in Logan Wilson from Wyoming but Mellor wrote strong praise for Parsons’ future:

"Parsons put an exclamation point on his 2019 season with a dominant performance in the Cotton Bowl against Memphis, so much so that Parsons actually leaped into the lead for highest-graded linebacker overall this year. Parsons was far from a liability in coverage, as he didn’t allow a single touchdown on any of the 64 targets thrown his way, but he really shined against the run, when he blitzed and with his tackling. In fact, Parsons was the only linebacker with elite grades in all three facets this year — he recorded a national-best 94.8 run-defense grade, fourth-highest 90.0 tackling grade and 17th-best pass-rush grade of 85.0. When he did rush the passer, Parsons recorded 26 pressures on 94 attempts, including five sacks, eight hits and 13 more hurries. He tallied 38 run stops (and 50 total stops all season long) while his run-stop percentage of 12.3% ranked 23rd. Perhaps the most impressive, however, was the fact that he attempted a total of 111 tackles this year and missed just six. He was a sure tackler who also made incredible strides across the field in every facet of play."

It’s a refreshing site of positive for the program and for the player amidst some negative media attention as of late. But that’s not all the praise for Parsons stemming from PFF.

Mellor later tweeted that Parsons was the only linebacker with a specific combination of elite grades from the 2019 season.

Again, that’s some strong praise for Parsons after he finished the year with a team-high 109 tackles, five sacks, five pass breakups, four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. The sky is the limit for Parsons entering Year 3 of his time in Happy Valley and Penn State fans better relish in the fact that they likely have one more season of No. 11 patrolling the middle of the field before he ultimately takes the leap to the next level.

Just how high could he go in the 2021 NFL Draft?