Will Parks leads Rich Rodriguez's first recruiting class at Arizona

Rich Rodriguez's first recruiting class at Arizona will now be stepping onto the field as seniors. In that recruiting class was William Parks, 3-star cornerback out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He held offers to Buffalo, Pittsburgh and UConn, among others.

The progression of Will Parks over the course of the last three years has really enabled him to become a leader.

His freshman year, he worked his way onto the field for a total of six games, finishing the season with nine tackles. He then found his way into situational packages his sophomore year, ending the season with an exclamation point when he took an interception back for a touchdown in the AdvoCare V100 Bowl vs. Boston College.

Last season, he emerged as a starter at free safety. He finished the season fourth in tackles with 81, 13 of which were for loss. Those 13 TFLs were second only to Scooby Wright III. Parks really stepped up his game this past season and could make a play from anywhere on the field, becoming a huge part of the 10-win season for Arizona.

This year, the defense will be without two leaders in Jared Tevis and Tra'Mayne Bondurant, but the role players of the last few years will now be asked to step into bigger roles. "We lost a lot of guys but I think a lot of guys stepped up," Parks said about the secondary. "We're going to be pretty balanced. We'll be pretty fast back there too."

With guys like Cam Denson continuing to progress, the position change from DaVonte' Neal, and all of the returning safeties including Jamar Allah, Anthony Lopez and Tellas Jones, the defense will have a lot of depth. The addition of JUCO transfer Paul Magloire will also help, who has also received high praise from Parks. "[Magloire] is looking pretty good. He has the flow of football in him.... I can tell he wants to get better."

You can count on great veteran leadership from Parks as he enters his senior season.