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It was one of the few times on Saturday that Wisconsin didn&#8217;t simply hand the ball off.With the Badgers forced to play backup quarterback Jack Coan because of a concussion to starter Alex Hornibrook, the offense was essentially without a passing game and in desperate need of some creativity.In the third quarter, it came in the form of a rare wildcat play in which wideout Danny Davis took a direct snap and looked to cut off left tackle. He got to the line of scrimmage and went straight down to the Beaver Stadium grass, courtesy of Micah Parsons.It was one of the biggest hits of the day and helped show the evolution of Penn State&#8217;s true freshman linebacker.A defensive end in high school who used his freakish athleticism to run around and through blockers, it hasn&#8217;t always been an easy transition to outside linebacker for Parsons. Earlier in the season, he might have charged too far upfield in a situation like this and ran himself out of of the play.This time he stayed patient. And more than that, he fought off a block from Badgers senior guard Michael Deiter before exploding into Davis to stop the play for no gain.It was one of a team-high seven tackles for Parsons, who is now alone atop the Nittany Lions&#8217; tackle list through 10 games with 58 &#8212; unheard of for a true freshman at Linebacker U.&#8220;He just keeps getting better,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;I think the other thing is he just continues to build trust in the coaching staff. &#8230; (Defensive coordinator Brent Pry) puts a lot of emphasis on trust. Trust with the defensive players, with what we run. Micah just keeps earning that every single day &#8212; more and more trust by how he&#8217;s going about his business.&#8221;Though fifth-year senior Koa Farmer remains the starter at the weakside &#8220;Will&#8221; position, it&#8217;s now Parsons who is getting the most reps at the spot. Just a few plays earlier on that opening drive of the third quarter, Farmer got sealed off on the left side, allowing Badgers second-string tailback Taiwan Deal to bounce the play outside for a gain of 38.Parsons replaced Farmer on the next play and made the big hit one more play after that.&#8220;That was part of the plan to allow his reps to spike up,&#8221; Franklin said.Franklin said Parsons&#8217; progress has been helped by a growing maturity on and off the field, which includes a strong fall semester academically, according to the coach.Last winter, Franklin admitted that he had assistant coaches and players question why he was still recruiting Parsons after the Harrisburg native decommited from the Lions, leading them on a &#8220;rollercoaster&#8221; until he ultimately signed with the team last December.Fortunately for the Lions, Parsons hasn&#8217;t been causing headaches as his behavior has begun to catch up to his ability.Teammates have noticed.&#8220;I think he&#8217;s a lot more comfortable and he&#8217;s playing a lot smarter,&#8221; defensive captain Nick Scott said. &#8220;He is extremely talented, extremely fast and athletic and everything like that. It took him a little bit to rely on his intuition and his reads rather than just his legs. So now he&#8217;s doing both, and we are reaping the benefits because he is a phenomenal athlete and he&#8217;s just playing within the framework of the defense much better.&#8221;Poll positionPenn State moved up five spots in both the Associated Press and coaches polls on Sunday, sitting at No. 16 and No. 15, respectively.With the win over the Badgers and losses from five teams ahead of them &#8212; Kentucky, N.C. State, Mississippi State, Boston College and Michigan State &#8212; the Lions are hoping to swipe an at-large bid to a New Year&#8217;s Six bowl if they can beat Rutgers and Maryland to finish 9-3.The poll that matters will be released at 7 p.m. Tuesday when the College Football Playoff committee comes out with its latest top 25. The Lions will be watching to see where they rank compared to fellow three-loss blue bloods Florida and Texas, two teams they would likely need to lead in the final weeks to perhaps earn a spot in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 29. Peach Bowl representatives have attended Penn State&#8217;s games the last two weeks.Still, that would require plenty of help across the country, including no surprise conference champions who would earn automatic bids into the New Year&#8217;s Six.The most likely destination for a 9-3 Penn State team would appear to be the Citrus Bowl to take on an SEC team on Jan. 1 in Orlando.Recruit watchHanover Area offensive lineman Justin Kopko was in attendance at Beaver Stadium for Saturday&#8217;s win.The 6-foot-4, 315-pound senior had previously announced that he received an offer to be a preferred walk-on at Penn State.The Lions have three Wyoming Valley Conference grads on this year&#8217;s team, all from Lake-Lehman &#8212; Connor McGovern and walk-ons Nick Eury and Kaleb Konigus.Up nextPenn State will play its final road game of the season Saturday when the Lions travel to Rutgers. Kickoff will be at noon and the game will be on Big Ten Network, it was announced Sunday.The Scarlet Knights have lost nine straight games since beating Texas State in the season-opener. They have been outscored 336-110 in that stretch, losing by an average of 25 points.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State freshman Micah Parsons may not be the starter in name at the &#8216;Will&#8217; linebacker spot, but he&#8217;s now getting the most snaps at the spot for the Nittany Lions. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_AP18294667247862.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State freshman Micah Parsons may not be the starter in name at the &#8216;Will&#8217; linebacker spot, but he&#8217;s now getting the most snaps at the spot for the Nittany Lions. </caption0><photoCredit0>Doug McSchooler | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div>

True freshman tackle leader Micah Parsons progressing for Penn State