MANHATTAN — It used to be, when Kansas State football cornerback Jacob Parrish first arrived on campus , that he would simply blend into the background.
"He's an unassuming guy," cornerbacks coach Van Malone said. "You can't pick him out in a room. But when it's time to do things on the field, he always shows up."
Showing up on the field was what allowed Parrish, a junior from Olathe North High School, to see action in all 14 games as a true freshman in 2022, both as a backup to veteran starters Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe as well on special teams. And when an injury forced him to play most of the was in the Wildcats' Big 12 championship victory over TCU, he responded with four tackles and a pass breakup.
"At his position, he's always doing things the right way," Malone said of Parrish, who with Brents and Boye-Doe gone to the NFL last year, stepped into a starting role and never looked back. "At his position, he's always making plays."
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In fact, after he recorded 13 tackles in a part-time role as a freshman, Parrish's numbers jumped to 44 stops, including 2.5 for loss with a half sack. His four interceptions and 13 passes defended led the team as he received Big 12 all-conference honorable mention from the league's coaches.
But back to Parrish's personality. His game intensity spoke volumes, even if off the field he did not.
"When I first got here, I played as a freshman, but I didn't feel comfortable speaking out in front of the team," Parrish said. "I felt like I still had to earn respect."
Strong safety VJ Payne, whose career path has mirrored Parrish's, from true freshman backup to fulltime starter last year, has seen that slowly change.
"The first few years, Jacob has been a quiet person," Payne said. "But as he's grown in the locker room and he's gotten more trust and he became one of those older guys — one of the veterans on the defense — you kind of have to take that role to speak up more and call out stuff that you usually don't call out.
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"Jacob being more vocal does help the whole defense."
Malone was on Parrish from the start to be more vocal, especially last as a starter last year.
"He's going to be competitive," Malone said. "So, where he's developed the most over the years has been what he does off the field. It's how he leads the room, how he takes charge and helps players who are playing behind him.
"He tries to push them to compete the way he does, so that's probably the biggest growth that I've seen."
Parrish is the first to admit that taking on a leadership role means stepping outside his comfort zone.
"That's something I've got to work on. I'm not really a vocal guy," he said. "(But) I feel like I earned respect from the team to be able to just call people out and be a leader. And then I got put on the leadership council in the winter, so I feel like this is helping me tremendously with being more vocal."
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Parrish's voice and confidence are not all that has grown over the past year. After starting last season at 185 pounds and finishing closer to 175, he now carries 200 pounds on his 5-foot-10 frame with no drop-off in speed or quickness.
"I feel like it's good weight. I just got stronger and got pretty fast with that weight," Parrish said. "Just maintaining, that's the most important thing to me. Just maintain my weight and be able to compete with bigger guys. I feel like this will help a lot."
Parrish insists that he is not on a strict daily calorie count, but "if it's in front of me, I'm just going to eat it." A few side trips to Chipotle and some protein shakes also help.
Malone is all for it. Fellow corner Keenan Garber, a converted receiver, also is pushing 200 pounds heading into the season.
"I think it's important for that position," Malone said. "Sometimes in that position we say, 'I'm a cover corner,' and all we do is run around and we're not involved in contact.
"But with the schemes that we use, they're going to be involved heavily in the contact portion of the game. They're going have to tackle."
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How 'unassuming' Kansas State football cornerback Jacob Parrish became a vocal leader
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