He suspended twice in HS, once from the team for 4 games (violating team rules) and once from school. The school suspension lead to him transferring from Central Dauphin to Harrisburg. Several levels to the story and different accounts as to what exactly happened but the charge was inciting a riot. He also didn't start the Minnesota game last year for what was described as a “behavioral modification issue.”
When he was being recruited, I heard the following comments:
- The good: Best player I ever saw in HS, #1 player in the country, scares the hell out of me on the field
- The bad: attitude issues, attention issues, self-absorbed, prima donna, a**hole
Lots of talk about the games he played during his recruitment, committing to everyone, lying to several coaches, just loving the attention and anything that came with it. Again not uncommon in the recruitment game but one term used to describe his recruitment was "bizarre" and kids who play excessive games during the process tend to not live up to expectations. Supposedly his dad was even worse with the attention.
Parsons does have a young child (2 yrs old i think) and that can change people......so if the hazing thing hadn't come up, i would have taken it as a knucklehead teenager who matured in college. This may still be the case as others have talked about his work ethic, how he's a leader on the team, does a lot of local community work, etc.
