Determination runs deep in the Parrella family
CARBONDALE, Ill. — If you ask Southern Illinois defensive end Jake Parrella where his relentless motor on the football field comes from, he’ll explain that determination is a trait that runs deep in the Parrella family.
It was passed on from his grandfather, Joe Parrella, who did three tours in Vietnam. It comes from his uncle, Joe Parrella Jr., who played defensive tackle at South Dakota, where there’s still a plaque in the locker room in his honor.
As the youngest of four brothers, it was cultivated during Jake's childhood. Competition with his three older brothers, Zach, Cal and Alex, included wrestling matches that his mom, Leigh, often had to break up. All four boys went on to play college sports.
Most of all, his determination comes from his father, John Parrella, a 12-year veteran of the National Football League, who took a year off from coaching when Parrella was a senior in high school and helped transform his son into a college athlete.
The story begins when Parrella was in 3rd grade and begged his dad to let him play tackle football, even though the family rule established for his older brothers was to wait until 6th grade. Parrella wanted to be a football player like his dad. John relented and let him play.
When Parrella got to high school, he was only 5-foot-8 and 135 pounds. He grew several inches by his sophomore year, “but I was just a twig playing receiver and safety on the JV squad,” he laughed.
So Parrella gave up football his junior year and focused on basketball, where he became an all-conference player.
“Right away, I regretted not playing football,” he recalled. “I was in the student section at the first game, thinking, why am I in the student section? I'd probably be the best player on the field right now.”
Parrella was determined to play football again his senior year.
Meanwhile, John, a defensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns, was let go along with the entire staff after a 6-10 season in 2019.
Then COVID hit. Instead of pursuing another coaching job in the NFL, and with the world at a standstill, John talked to his son about training him for his senior year, not knowing when that season would take place.
There was one condition, though. Parrella had to be all-in.
“My dad said, 'when I'm coaching you, I'm not your dad anymore, I'm a coach,'” Parrella recalled. “He said, ‘when I'm training you, don't ‘dad’ me or any of that bullshit. If you're gonna go all-in, we're gonna go all-in.’”
Parrella agreed to the ground rules. His dad installed a squat rack and a bench in the family garage, and the two men went to work.
“We started training like crazy, running at the park, then we'd come back home and lift,” Parrella said.
After about seven months of training, Parrella said they were running at the park when a policeman approached them on a hot day in late July.
“He said, ‘Hey, I've seen you out here when it was snowing, when it's hot. You’re running almost every single day. I admire you, and whatever you're working for, you’ll accomplish your goals.’”
The officer was correct. Parrella bulked up to 215 pounds by the time his senior season started at Lutheran West High School, where his dad volunteered to coach the defensive line.
Yet Parrella wasn’t on any college’s prospect list because he hadn’t even played as a junior.
Then he had the performance of a lifetime in Week 2 against Westlake High School. Playing stand-up defensive end, Parrella scored three defensive touchdowns in the first half — an 82-yard interception return, an 18-yard pick six and a 20-yard scoop-and-score. He finished the game with 10 tackles and a sack.
Parrella thought, “this is exactly why I did all that training.”
Kent State called the next day, asking to see his junior tape.
“I’m like, I don't have a junior tape!” Parrella laughed. “I went from having no interest to 40 schools hitting me up.”
Parrella ultimately accepted a preferred walk-on spot at Oregon State. He weighed 230 pounds when he got there and was up to 250 by the end of his redshirt freshman year in 2022. He had only played in one game, though, and decided to transfer.
“The D-line room was older guys who all got COVID years, so they were all coming back,” he explained. “I didn't want to go through another year of development. I was ready to play now.”
Southern Illinois, Idaho and North Dakota made offers. Saluki head coach Nick Hill was the first to call, and Parrella committed during his visit.
“I just knew right away this is the spot for me,” Parrella said.
On the first day of practice, he was already running with the first team.
“I was having a good practice,” he winced. “I made a huge play and was pretty fired up. I felt like the guy. Then I planted my foot and just felt it pop. It was the worst 20 seconds of pain in my life.”
Parrella had torn his ACL and meniscus and spent the next seven weeks on crutches. His 2023 season was over. The injury takes time to fully recover, and he played a part-time role on the defense in 2024, totaling 14 tackles, including a tackle for loss in the opener at BYU.
By the start of the 2025 season, Parrella was back to full strength and earned a starting defensive end spot. Although he played in every game and made 10 starts, the season brought more adversity.
In Week 3, he sprained an ankle at UT Martin, but toughed it out and played the following week at SEMO. During the first half against the Redhawks, though, he felt a sharp pain in his left hand.
“I got to the sideline and I told Donnie (Wingate), ‘I don't know what's wrong with my hand,’” Parrella said. “Donnie gets all fired up, yelling, you're fine, you're fine! During warm-ups, my ankle was killing me, but when I hurt my hand, I didn't even feel my ankle anymore.”
Parrella wrapped tape over his glove. At halftime, head trainer Mike Lyznicki checked the hand. “He said, ‘dude, this is broken in two places.'”
Parrella's hand was later fitted with a club-like soft-cast and he didn’t miss a game.
“The club was definitely not fun to play with,” he grimaced. “As a D-lineman, obviously, you need grip.”
When the cast finally came off in Week 10 against Youngstown State, he said his hand had weakened and “felt like a little kid's hand.”
Week 11 brought the infamous five-overtime loss to South Dakota, but in Week 12 came redemption.
“We had the ultimate heartbreak, and then we came back out and just go ball at Illinois State,” Parrella said.
The Salukis whipped the Redbirds, 37-7, and Parrella was the star of the defense with two sacks, a forced fumble and a blocked kick.
“That was the most fun game I've ever had,” he smiled.
This season, Parrella has extended his streak of consecutive starts to 13-straight games, and last week he played his 30th career game at SIU. He’s a key member of a pass rushing unit that leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference in sacks.
Asked what he wants to do after his football career ends, Parrella said he’s finishing up his MBA and plans to go into sales, but he quickly changes the topic back to football.
“I’m just cherishing this time,” he said. “I hope this season's far from over.”
He reflected on his college football accomplishments, though, acknowledging they were made possible by the year he spent training with his father.
“Honestly, that changed my life forever,” he said. “Dad could have easily just taken another job, made me move again my senior year, but he wanted to train me and coach me for a year.”
So when you see Parrella battling with relentless effort across every inch of the football field, now you know where it comes from.
“From my family,” Parrella nodded. “From my dad telling me that's how you make plays. You just got to keep going, keep training, keep fighting.”
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