PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Former Penn State All-America linebacker Micah Parsons will remain just that--a former Penn State linebacker.
With the Big Ten season scheduled to start in a little more than three weeks, coach James Franklin confirmed Wednesday that Parsons, who opted out of a possible season in August, won't return to the team.
"That won't be happening," Franklin said during the Nittany Lions virtual media day. "We understand the decision and just like on the front end are supportive of the decision."
Franklin explained that there were discussions about a possible return.
"We had a great conversations with Micah and both his mom and dad," Franklin said. "I think there was a legitimate possibility for that to happen. But as we continued to talk and continued to work with it, the timing of it made it challenging. He had been gone for so long. He'd been to California training. That made it a little bit more complicated than we were able to work through."
Parsons is projected to go early in the first round of the 2021 draft. While it's next to impossible to replace a player of Parsons' ability, Franklin feels good about his linebacker depth as several of those vying for playing time were highly-recruited players, including Jesse Luketa, Ellis Brooks, Lance Dixon, Curtis Jacobs and (Aliquippa's) Zuriah Fisher.
"In a lot of ways, the time has allowed us to work through some of (the uncertainty). We feel like we have a really good group there. We think we're in a good place. It's obviously a position of strength."
Penn State will open its season at Indiana on October 23 or 24.