Parson considering walk-on offer

Stanford already has walk-on commitments from three 2016 recruits, and the Cardinal continue to pursue several other prospects in that capacity.

Among them is Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.) defensive back Jaelon Parson (who goes by JJ), who was recently admitted to the university and is considering joining the Cardinal as a walk-on.

"It's at the top of my list," Parson said. "Just the whole school, campus, the Stanford degree with the walk-on spot in my opinion beats any other school where you might be able to play more, like a smaller school were you can play more, or something like that."

In addition to Stanford, a number of Division 2 and Division 3 schools are pursuing Parson. He doesn't have a timeline for making a decision.

"I'm still going through it," Parson said. "I don't have a date or anything yet."

"My deciding factor would be the academics, the degree, how is that going to help me in the future after college and all that. That's part of the reason why I was interested in trying to play for the Ivy League schools. With that Stanford degree, that's one of the best."

Parson started hearing from the Cardinal over summer after he impressed at the program's camp.

"It started with the camp," Parson said. "I went to the camp and got to meet the coaching staff, saw the area, went on the tour of the school. They liked how I performed at the camp so they stayed in contact with me."

Stanford offered Parson a walk-on spot toward the beginning of his senior season. He made a return trip to The Farm for Stanford's win over Washington.

"I think just the whole community, the whole area and how you can't really beat that college campus with the whole community, how Stanford is such a big part of that area (stood out when I visited)," Parson said. "And I'd just say the people - how committed they are to what they do."

A few months later, in mid-December, the defensive back entered the next stage of his Stanford recruitment, when he found out that he been admitted to the university.

"It was exciting," Parson said. "It just shows that if you work you can really do anything. And it showed me how hard work pays off and all the work I've done in school, even though it's not fun to do sometimes or it gets hard, it still pays off."

Parson, who is being recruited by Cardinal defensive coordinator Lance Anderson, has a few connections to Stanford player. He knows redshirt freshman outside linebacker Lane Veach as well as sophomore Casey Tucker, who also attended Hamilton High School.