Micah Parsons is a superstar defensive end in the NFL, now with the Green Bay Packers after being traded by the Dallas Cowboys this past offseason.
He is also a diehard Penn State Nittany Lions supporter, having played in Happy Valley for two years before being drafted 12th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Although the Packers, Cowboys, and Nittany Lions are all out of championship contention, that didn’t stop one of the best defensive players on the planet from waking up and firing a shot at an entire conference on Tuesday morning.
No, not the NFC or AFC.
Parsons wanted to call out the conference that had ruled college football for most of the 21st century: the SEC.
While the SEC had dominated, the Big Ten, Parsons’ conference, has come alive in the past three years, with a trio of different programs picking up national titles.
The Indiana Hoosiers continued the Big Ten’s run on Monday with their magical victory over the Miami Hurricanes, securing the game in the final seconds with a key interception that stopped what could have been a game-winning drive for the ACC side.
The college football world has been in flux these past few years with the introduction of the NIL and, more importantly, the transfer portal, which allows student-athletes to freely move between schools each offseason like their own version of NFL free agency. Instead of freshmen and sophomores sitting on the bench and giving top SEC schools that recruited them immense depth, those top athletes are now transferring for money and more playing time at other schools.
Parsons’ Nittany Lions were projected to be one of the favorites for the College Football Playoff championship this season. Yet injuries and regression led to the midseason dismissal of head coach James Franklin, and Penn State finished with a mediocre record.
But in this new transfer portal era, a team can go from the bottom to the top in just a year. Indiana did it with genius architect Curt Cignetti, and Parsons will be hoping former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell can do the same at his alma mater.