In The Sports Extra Podcast’s first official episode, Micah Parsons shares his journey to the 2021 NFL Draft. The Harrisburg native is expected to be picked in the first round of the Draft.

In an exclusive interview with podcast host Allie Berube, Parsons talks about his childhood growing up in Harrisburg. He emotionally recounts his parent’s decision to hold him back due to his academic performance and explores why he chose to opt out of the 2020 Big Ten football season.

Parsons turned heads in high school, first at Central Dauphin as a freshman and sophomore. After his family moved back into the Harrisburg School District, Parsons was forced to transfer and join the Cougars.

At Harrisburg, Parsons played defensive end and running back, rushing for over 1,200 yards and 27 touchdowns. The five-star recruit committed to play football at Penn State under Head Coach James Franklin.

At Penn State, Parsons switched positions to linebacker. Despite only starting one game his freshman season, Parsons led the team in tackles. By his sophomore season, Parsons was named the top linebacker in the Big Ten, first team all-Conference and was a consensus All-American.

After a difficult offseason due to COVID-19, Parsons chose to opt out of the 2020 season while the Big Ten said it wasn’t going to play in the fall. When the Big Ten reversed course later in the fall, Parsons weighed the option of returning to play for the Nittany Lions in his junior season. The logistics were too difficult to overcome at that point in Parsons’ training for the NFL Draft, and he chose not to return.

In his interview with abc27, Parsons explores the moments in his life that brought him to the brink of the NFL. Just three weeks away from his entire life changing, Micah returned home to Harrisburg before heading to Cleveland for the Draft at the end of April.

The exclusive interview will headline The Sports Extra Podcast Episode 1. This must-listen episode will release on April 22nd.

You can catch The Sports Extra Podcast presented by abc27 starting April 22nd. The team drops new episodes every Thursday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or right here on abc27.com.