Former Penn State football linebacker Micah Parsons had himself a great performance at the Nittany Lions’ Pro Day at Holuba Hall Thursday.

Parsons was one of eight former Penn State stars working out for NFL scouts, but the Harrisburg native clearly flashed. After opting out of his final season in the blue and white due to COVID-19 concerns, Parsons still managed a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, a 6.89-second three-cone drill, and put up 19 reps on the bench press.

The linebacker’s athleticism and pure football talent clearly speaks for itself. Some NFL teams have reportedly had reservations about “character concerns” however, and for that reason he’s dropped in some mock drafts. There hasn’t been an outright mention of what those concerns could be, but it’s worth noting that Parsons appeared in a lawsuit filed by former teammate Isaiah Humphries in January 2020.

Humphries alleged that Parsons was among a group of players who hazed him on multiple occasions over the course of his time at Penn State. Parsons wasn’t named as a defendant in the suit, however, and no charges were filed.

In the past week, Penn State legend LaVar Arrington came out and defended Parsons from the alleged “character issues,” but the young linebacker had a chance to speak for himself after his Pro Day.

“Obviously, a lot of people have concerns about things that came up. At the end of the day, I believe that I was a kid,” Parsons said. “I was 17-18. We all made mistakes when we were 17-18. I’m not going to let it control or dictate the person I am now. I’m not going to let something that was three or four years ago dictate who I’m becoming and the father I want to be.”

Parsons plans on letting his play do the talking, which certainly isn’t a bad strategy. The Nittany Lion totaled 191 tackles over the course of his two seasons at the college level, along with 6.5 sacks and six forced fumbles. He’s been slated across plenty of different spots in the first round, but if a team decides to pass on him, Parsons sees it as their loss.

“If someone is gonna judge me over that, I’d rather not be in their program,” Parsons said. “I know the type of person I’m becoming and the father I’m becoming, and that’s all that matters to me…If it’s gonna come down to something I did in high school or something I wish I could change, I can only control what I can control moving forward. That’s how I feel about it.”

Parsons is expected by many to be the first Nittany Lion taken in this year’s NFL Draft, but stars like Jayson Oweh, Pat Freiermuth, Shaka Toney, and several others are also projected to hear their names called during the weekend.

The first round of this year’s NFL Draft will kick off at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 29 and will be broadcast on ESPN and the NFL Network.