In another situation, Winona Christian’s Colin Parkinson might be the kind of player that coach Junior Graham would stick at cornerback and leave him there for three or four years.
But with a limited roster, Graham and his coaching staff are having to get creative with their packaging. That’s what makes Parkinson one of the Stars’ most valuable players heading into the season.
“He is going to be that guy on defense that is going to play safety, some corner, an outside linebacker, just about everywhere,” Graham said. “On offense, he’s going to play some outside receiver, some slot, some running back, and will probably even take some snaps at quarterback before the season is over.”
Graham said one of the reasons that he feels comfortable moving Parkinson around is the versatility of the junior.
“He’s a guy that you want to get to the ball to on offense and a guy on defense that you want around the ball,” Graham said. “He’s a guy that is going to move around week to week because he is a really good athlete and has an extremely high IQ. He processes information really well so he has the ability of playing multiple positions on each side of the ball. He’s just one of those kids that gets it and understands what you are trying to do.”
Graham said Parkinson is “sneaky” athletic, standing at 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds.
“He’s one of those kids that if you were on the playground and lined up all the kids on a wall, he’s probably be the last one you pick for a football game,” Graham said. “Because you look at him and he’s tall and think. You don’t realize how athletic he is and how strong he is.”
While Parkinson will play several positions, Graham said he really likes the junior as an outside linebacker.
“His best position will be the bandit outside linebacker,” Graham said. “He can do a lot of things there. At that bandit, he can attach to the line of scrimmage. But it’s really a matchup kind of deal. If you are a team that is going to throw it, he’s going to be in our secondary. That may sound dumb to some people but it’s a matter of numbers. If we had higher numbers, we could put him at one spot and lock him down to one position. But we don’t have that luxury. We think moving him around gives us the best opportunity to tape into his talents every week.”
Graham said that Parkinson just has something that most other kids don’t have.
“He has two things that are really hard to come by,” Graham said. “He has really good instincts and he has great eye discipline. And he has really good hips and moves really well. He is a really good basketball player, and he turned into our No. 1 pitcher last year in baseball. The moment doesn’t get too big for him. And he doesn’t complicate things a lot. He just keeps things simple. It just seems like he understands the game so well. I don’t really know where the instincts come from but he has them. You see kids with great skill sets but they don’t have the instincts or the other way around. He’s that rare combination that has the skills and the instincts. When you put those two together, you have something special.”
Along with instincts, Graham raves about Parkinson’s mental capacity.
“You take last year as a sophomore, he played three different positions on defense and played three different positions on defense,” Graham said. “That’s a lot for a sophomore to digest. And he was our backup quarterback last year. I have no idea what his IQ is but I can tell you that it’s high. And he can handle the pressure. He’s a guy that the moment never gets too big for him for whatever reason. He’s just the rare deal with the way he approaches practice. He does a lot for us. He can really do anything athletically that he wants to do.”
Besides football, Parkinson is a standout in basketball, baseball and also ran track last year.
“He’s gotten a lot faster and a lot stronger from last year,” Graham said. “He ran track for us last year. That added speed will allow him to be involved in our vertical passing game. We think if he stays healthy, the sky is the limit for him. When you can run, have good instincts and great eye discipline that can take you a long way in athletics.”
As for college, Graham said he “has no idea” if Parkinson can play in college or not.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve had 43 kids sign to play college football, and I don’t know what it takes for a kid to get signed today,” Graham said. “I think it’s going to be interesting to see if he matures in the other two sports like he has matured in football. Age and maturity make a big difference. So I think it’s a matter of sitting back and watching and see what happens with him this year.”
