Oft-overlooked transfer Micah Parrish brings chip on shoulder, motivation to Ohio State
From even before he was born, there’s been more to Micah Parrish than is apparent at first glance.
Given his own name by his grandfather before he was born, Emanuel Parrish put significant thought into naming each of his four children. After his firstborn child was Emanuel Jr., the elder Parrish and his wife, Michelle, welcomed a second son into the world. Again, Emanuel Parrish drew on his faith in God in selecting a name.
Ohio State’s roster for the 2024-25 season lists Micah Parrish, a fifth-year guard. For the past two years, San Diego State’s roster listed Micah Parrish, just like Oakland’s roster did for the two years prior to that.
His full name is Micah-Immanuel Parrish, and both sides of the hyphen hold Biblical significance.
“Micah’s spelling comes out of the Old Testament,” Emanuel Parrish said. “My spelling comes out of the New Testament and I added the Micah onto his name. The meaning of Micah is just like Yahweh. Immanuel means ‘God is with us.’ The definition for Micah's full name is, ‘Just like Yahweh, God is with us.’
“We tend to take on that term or that personality of the name. I think that names are very important.”
Although he commonly goes by Micah, it’s that kind of faith that has led him from an afterthought in the recruiting world to a prominent role on a team playing in a national championship game to now one season with the Buckeyes.
The chip on Micah Parrish's shoulder
He didn’t make his high school team, but that didn’t stop Emanuel Parrish from carving out a niche for himself in the game. Three summer championships won while playing in a summer league offered through Detroit’s recreation centers are still a source of pride.
Emanuel Parrish was playing on Dolphin Street outside the family’s home on Detroit’s West Side when his 3-year-old son caught his attention.
“I happened to look over to the curb and just seen how he was just watching us play,” he said. “Usually 3 years old, man, they’re all over the place. He just had such an interest in us out there playing the game, bouncing the ball, shooting it through the hoop. He was just all-in.”
That love of the game would prove to be a constant. His father put cement in the backyard and installed a court for his four kids, a group that would include multiple college basketball players. Evangelina Parrish is a junior on Chicago State’s team and Elijah Parrish plays for Rochester Christian University.
Micah Parrish, however, approached competition a little bit differently than his family members.
“He’s so competitive,” his dad said. “We’re playing board games, whether it’s Uno, Monopoly, whatever it was, he just did not want to lose. And if he lost, oh man, he had an attitude out of this world. This is just who he was born to be or born into. Somewhere along the line he just picked up this competitive spirit and picked up the game of basketball.”
Jermaine Kilbourne, who would eventually become Micah Parrish's AAU coach, first met him at an AAU tryout in Detroit. Parrish made the program’s “B’ team and, after his freshman year, transferred high schools and enrolled at River Rouge to continue playing with his AAU teammates, who were coached on the circuit by Kilbourne. Playing high school ball for coach LaMonta Stone, who had been an assistant coach at Ohio State from 2002-04, Parrish helped River Rouge reach the 2009 Division II state title game.
On the AAU circuit, Kilbourne said, Parrish refined the chip on his shoulder.
“It was a long journey,” he said. “Imagine the mental strength you have to have by getting knocked down, by getting doubted by different schools, by being in front of schools and watching other players get Division I offers and he didn’t. He wears a lot on his shoulder, so that’s why he plays hard. He’s a hard worker, man.”
Although he had multiple Division II and III schools interested, Parrish earned just one Division I scholarship offer, from Detroit Mercy. And it was eventually rescinded, putting his career at a crossroads. Insistent that he was a Division I player, Kilbourne helped the Parrish family decide on a year of prep school rather than use a year of eligibility. In one year at Gilbert (Arizona) Hillcrest Prep, Parrish helped the Bruins to a 30-5 record.
Still, just one Division I coach came calling: Oakland’s Greg Kampe, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic Parrish enrolled with the Golden Grizzlies for the 2020-21 season.
“I try to hold to a religious background, so I think it was more the Lord was leading and guiding the way and he blessed us for Greg Kampe to call us,” Emanuel Parrish said. “A lot of people look back, ‘Man, this is a guy we took a scholarship from, we didn’t give him a call, we didn’t give him a shot.’ We don’t look back or harp on that, but it is part of the story.”
Micah Parrish immediately slotted into a starting spot, averaging 10.5 points 5.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.3 assists while starting in 57 of 59 games during two seasons with Oakland. Then, as Kilbourne had envisioned, it was time to transfer to the high-major level. Kilbourne had a connection with a staff member at San Diego State and placed a call on Parrish’s behalf, and Emanuel Parrish had grown up as a Michigan fan who enjoyed the Wolverines’ famous Fab Five recruiting class.
Current San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher was a member of that coaching staff, and it all aligned for Micah Parrish to transfer to the Aztecs rather than other finalists West Virginia, Colorado State and Michigan State.
“He felt like Michigan State had their chance to recruit him,” Kilbourne said. “He had a big chip on his shoulder. He’s a big chippy guy. I told him, don’t choose (San Diego State) because of that. Let’s choose it because of the fit.”
In two years, Parrish went 58-18 at San Diego State, reaching the 2023 national championship game and the 2024 Sweet 16 while averaging 8.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals in 24.4 minutes per game in an offense that primarily revolved around former Buckeye Jaedon LeDee.
With the extra year afforded to players who participated during the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic, he entered the portal again. Now, he’ll play for first-year coach Jake Diebler at Ohio State.
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Where does Ohio State fit in for Micah Parrish?
When Parrish left Oakland for San Diego State, the change in scenery afforded the member of the Horizon League’s 2021-22 all-defensive team a greater opportunity to showcase those abilities. During the past two seasons, the Aztecs finished fourth and 11th, respectively, nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com. San Diego State lost total 10 Mountain West games in the last two years, fewer than Ohio State’s single-season Big Ten losses in each of the past two years.
Now he takes those capabilities to the Buckeyes with the belief that there’s also more of an offensive game to showcase.
“He’ll bring a lot to Ohio State because of his chippyness, his defense, his veteran presence and starting on a winning team,” Kilbourne said. “And it’s in the Big Ten and Micah loves the Big Ten. He always wanted to play in the Big Ten, so it just made sense for him to go to Ohio State.”
— Micah-Immanuel Parrish (@ImmanuelMicah) April 20, 2024
He joins a backcourt that will heavily feature third-year returner Bruce Thornton and fifth-year South Carolina transfer Meechie Johnson Jr. After shooting at least 34.9% from 3 in each of his first three seasons of college basketball, Parrish dipped to a career-low 29.2% in 2023-24 while tying a career high at 4.4 attempts per game.
“It went down last year because their style of offense is not as good as Ohio State or others,” Kilbourne said. “They’re more of a defensive team. Micah wants a chance to show his offensive ability, which nobody’s had a chance to see. He can shoot the ball, and he’s going to work on a lot of things this summer with his ball handling just to show people he’s a two-way player. He couldn’t show that at San Diego State.”
It’s also the final stop in a journey that has compelled Micah-Immanuel Parrish to prove himself at every level. Now he'll get the same opportunity at Ohio State.
“He believes in himself,” Emanuel Parrish said. “He believes that he is good, that he can play with the best players in the country. I would say the chip (on his shoulder) has always been there. It might be more because he wasn’t getting all the big schools coming out of high school, all the big D-I schools, but I definitely think his journey is a blessing and it worked out for the best.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Micah Parrish bringing chip on shoulder to Buckeyes
