Five-star defensive end Micah Parsons had been believed to be a heavy Ohio State lean despite an offer from in-state Penn State. However, that all changed when he did end up committing to the Nittany Lions during the early signing period on Wednesday. There was a report that surfaced about the Buckeyes backing off his recruitment recently because of recruiting violations that they self-reported. Parson's father, Terrence, believes that it's not the self-reported violations, but rather something else entirely.
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The reason that Ohio State backed off recruiting reportedly stems from an incident involving ESPN's College GameDay and Parsons meeting with all the crew members. If he had just met with Eddie George —- who was there for the event —- and host Kirk Herbstreit then it would have been fine since they are alumni of the school. However, Terrence told The Lantern that he believes the Buckeyes backed off the No. 4 recruit in the country is because of a tweet he sent out during the year.
It was all the way back in September during that GameDay game when Oklahoma came in and destroyed Ohio State. He commented on the quarterback and suggested that the Buckeyes should switch from J.T. Barrett to Dwayne Haskins.
Here's the elder Parsons' comments on the matter:
"After the visit, you know, the next day everything seemed strange because our itinerary said we're supposed to meet with Urban Meyer at the end of our visit," Terrence Parsons said. "But that never happened. So when that didn't happen, I was like, I told his mom, I said, 'Yeah, I don't think they want our son no more.'"
"I texted them on the 10th, saying thank you and everything. [Defensive line coach] Larry Johnson, he briefly responded. Urban Meyer didn't respond until that Friday, then he didn't see my message and said 'Can I talk later?' I said, 'Yeah, what's good?' He said, 'Noon.' I hit him back around noon. There was no reply or answer and that's it."
It certainly sounds like the Buckeyes wanted no part of Parsons pretty early in the season and it looks like that opened up the door for Penn State to do some work on the biggest recruit in the state. He's ranked as the No. 4 overall recruit in the class of 2018, the top weakside defensive end and the top recruit in the state according to 247Sports.
