'Nole's UM snub is finally paying off
Still unsure why he picked FSU, Preston Parker is slowly emerging as a key receiver.
By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 18, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Receiver Preston Parker gently tossed the two caps into the air, an obvious ploy to create suspense about which school - Miami or Florida State - he would choose to attend.
Except Parker knew all along which hat he would grab in midair.
He had known for years.
The standout from Delray Beach Atlantic High unabashedly loved the Hurricanes. His bedroom was stocked like a UM gift shop with hats, footballs, posters. As for FSU, well, he wasn't a fan and didn't particularly enjoy his official recruiting trip to Tallahassee. Heck, he liked his visit to Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota more, snow and all.
"I was set; I was going straight to Miami," he said. "Everybody knew it."
So much for uncertainty, huh? But in the fraction of a second it took for those two hats to tumble in front of his face, something happened, something truly dramatic.
"I caught the Florida State hat and put it on my head," he said. "I really didn't have a reason. I still don't know what made me not pick the Miami hat. Everybody thought it was a trick. And later on (that day), I was like, 'What am I doing?'"
A frustrating freshman season, during which he got on the field less than Chief Osceola, only made him ask that question more frequently and created some real uncertainty about his future in FSU garb.
But Parker stuck with FSU and has burst onto the scene as the Seminoles' most versatile threat. Despite not starting, he has 24 catches for 344 yards (both second on the team behind Greg Carr) and a touchdown and averages 11.7 yards on punt returns, including a long of 44 against Colorado. He's also on kickoffs with primary returner Michael Ray Garvin.
"In all six ballgames, he (Parker) has sparked us," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said as his team prepared for Saturday's showdown against Miami. "He's a guy you want to get the ball to."
The 6-foot, 190-pound Parker did it all in high school, not only on offense but on defense as a safety, and came to FSU as one of the state's most prized prospects.
As long as he worked hard, he expected to have a chance to play immediately and contribute. He appeared in 10 games but had just two catches for 26 yards - both in the blowout win against Duke - and three runs for 13 yards.
Offensive coordinator/receivers coach "Jeff Bowden and (graduate assistant) Ron Dugans told me this and that, 'Don't redshirt. You'll play,'" he said. "And I didn't play. I wasn't happy at all. ... You're out there working your butt off and it's like you're working for free."
Exasperated and disappointed, Parker burned up his cell phone minutes with calls to friends and family to seek their advice about whether he should transfer.
"I told him, 'God will work everything out, just chill,'" said his brother Doug, 25, a former star running back at Florida Atlantic who grew up loving FSU. "At the same time, I was burning up (inside), too."
The offensive staff overhaul gave Parker new hope that maybe 2007 would be different, and he opted to stay. Still, when new offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher told him the same thing that Jeff Bowden had about earning the chance, Parker, 20, said he was unsure if it was the same old coach-speak or "for real."
That was before he learned Fisher had told Bobby Bowden in the spring that Parker could "play for LSU," Fisher's former stop and a school that had produced a pair of receivers taken in the NFL draft's first round last spring. Fisher saw Parkers big-play potential and, even more, his determination with the ball.
"I've never see a guy who wanted to score more than he does," Bowden said. "Have you noticed the catches he makes and how he fights to stay on his feet and unbelievably does a lot of the time? There's not many guys I see with that type of ferociousness or desire to stay on their feet and move that ball toward the goal line."
Parker, now sure he made the right decision when he grabbed that garnet hat, will tell you it's about proving what he can do on the field. He's coming off his biggest game so far against Wake Forest with 113 yards receiving and his first touchdown, a 6-yard bullet from Xavier Lee.
"Preston's heart, his demeanor, his want-to, you can never question," Fisher gushed. "As he learns to be more precise and disciplined on everything he does, he'll develop himself into one heck of a football player. I mean it."
So much for uncertainty, huh?
Preston Parker
Game by game
Opponent Rec Yds TDs PR Yds
Clemson 4 28 0 2 36
UAB 4 89 0 6 74
Colorado 1 18 0 6 84
Alabama 4 35 0 2 9
NC State 6 61 0 0 0
WF 5 113 1 3 20
Totals 24 344 1 19 223