Parson ended the busy month on a high point with a visit to Tennessee that left him thoroughly impressed. It was his first-ever trip to Knoxville, and one of his first stops was to Neyland Stadium, which he said drew a “wow” from him. However, it was his conversations with Tennessee's new staff, particularly the film session with
Halzle that provided an in-depth look into the new offense Tennessee will run under
Josh Heupel, that impressed Parson the most.
“Being with the QB coach, Coach Halzle, man, awesome,” he said. “ Him and I, we watched film and talked football for like, a little bit over an hour. That was my favorite part, getting to understand the philosophy. Coach Heup, they’ve been known to have a high-powered offense, putting points on the board, putting up numbers, so just to see what they’re all about and him explaining their philosophy to me and me getting to understanding and also realizing that what they do in this offense is something that I’ve done already in my career.
“The school I was at in Texas, we ran a similar offense and that was pretty cool. I had an understanding for some things and also learned some things today. I didn’t even camp today, and I still learned a lot, just being with the coaches. That was something that I really enjoyed and I’m going to take a lot of things back to Ravenwood and implement them into my game.”
The film session included tape of a current NFL quarterback Heupel and Halzle previously coached and showed Parson why he would be an ideal fit into what the Vols want to do.
“My arm talent, the way I throw the ball,” Parson said. “They take some shots here and there, and when they were able to come see me throw, they could really see my arm strength and the way I can drive the ball down the field, so they just showed me cut-ups from when they were at Missouri with
Drew Lock, he’s in the NFL now with the Broncos. They just showed me what they were all about, and I could see myself playing in this offense, for sure, and yeah, it was great.”
Parson said he will “definitely be back, for sure” and could try to return to Tennessee as early as next month when the dead period is lifted, and he said he plans to come to one of Tennessee’s home games this season.
“They’re in the mix, for sure,” Parson said of the Vols. “They’re definitely going to be one of my top schools. Like I said, I loved it here, everything that they were about, the relationships that I built with the coaches. It was awesome.”