Throwback Ryan Parker key cog for Baylor defense

photo Baylor's Ryan Parker (15) chases McCallie School's Shawn McColley (18) after he picked up a fumble turning over possession during their game at the Blue Tornado's home field on Oct. 3, 2014.

Ryan Parker is a four-sport athlete and has medaled at Tennessee state wrestling tournaments and track meets.

He's also participates in lacrosse, yet football is the sport where he's known as a player and not just as a player but as a throwback, the old-school type that plays for the physicality of the game.

"I love contact. That's my favorite part of practice and games," Baylor's junior linebacker said. "I was telling a friend the other day that a football field is really the one place you can go and just run at somebody and hit them as hard as you can and it's legal."

Yet he was uncertain whether it was a compliment when he heard himself described as a throwback.

"I had been told I'm old-school and a throwback linebacker, but I honestly didn't know what it meant," Parker admitted.

Parker has played through abrasions, bruises, bumps and sprains from shin to shoulder. If he does come out, trainers have learned to meet him with band-aid or tape because he's racing back off the sideline as quickly as he can.

"Football - he eats and sleeps it, and those type kids are fun to coach," Red Raiders coach Phil Massey said. "Other kids many not wear their letter jackets; he does. He isn't coming out. That's not part of who he is or part of his vocabulary.

"Those type kids are fun to coach."

Massey will take Parker and the rest of the Baylor football contingent to Nashville for a Division II-AA playoff semifinal tonight and it's likely that he'll get close to 48 minutes from Parker, who plays in the middle of the Red Raiders defense, as a tight end offensively and as a snapper on punts and placement kicks.

"He rarely comes off the field," Massey said.

He has become an integral part of the 8-4 team that's now two wins deep into the postseason. In the last three weeks the still-growing 6-foot, 205-pounder has averaged 21 solo tackles. In back-to-back games against Father Ryan, he totaled 44 solos, 17 assists, eight tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries. In last week's 10-7 win over Christian Brothers, Parker added 19 tackles, eight assists, a lost-yardage tackle and a fumble recovery.

"He has a nose for the football. He's a tough kid. He plays hard from snap to whistle and his motor is wide opening all the time," Massey said.

Parker is the latest in a string of linebackers that includes David Helton (Duke) and Colton Jumper (Tennessee).

He isn't as big as either of the two and Massey said as much.

"He doesn't fit that mold of being 6-3 and having the big frame, but I'll take him from tackle-to-tackle, and he even does a good job sideline-to-sideline," the coach said. "What he lacks right now in size he makes up for with effort and attitude and football savvy."

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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