Will Parks sat on a Southwest Airlines plane alongside teammate David Richards, waiting to complete a layover in Las Vegas on their way to Burbank, California.
Parks was wide-eyed, smiling.
The UA safety couldn’t believe he was heading off to California to represent the Wildcats at the Pac-12’s media days.
Parks spoke with his father back in Philadelphia earlier that day on the phone, and they talked about the Dallas Cowboys jersey — Emmitt Smith, to be exact — he wore when he was 3 years old. Parks still has the picture on his phone.
Parks also heard from Matt Dudek, Arizona’s director of on-campus recruiting and player personnel. Dudek got emotional as he thought about how Parks had gotten to this point.
Now it’s November, Arizona’s season is winding down, which means Parks’ career is too. He’s Arizona’s leading tackler, with 59 on the season. Saturday is Senior Night, a home game against Utah, his last at Arizona Stadium.
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Emotionally, not a whole lot has changed. Despite Arizona’s struggles — the Wildcats are 5-5 and on a three-game losing skid, fighting for bowl eligibility — the man they call “Willy from Philly” is still smiling, joking, laughing.
He’s not quite wide-eyed anymore, though. Now, he’s teary-eyed.
Parks got emotional Monday when talking about his career, and said he was thrilled that his mother will finally be able to make the trip from Philadelphia to Tucson for a football game. The Wildcats host Utah Saturday at 8 p.m.
Asked about Dudek, and his relationship with the Arizona staffer, Parks was at a loss for words.
He stared into space for five seconds after the question was posed, silent, eyes watering.
“Yeah,” he said, then paused again. “I’ve known Dudek for a long time. I felt like he’s had my back since Day 1 — from when he was recruiting me at Pitt and then coming here. He’s got beautiful daughters, a beautiful wife, and he’s a good person.
“I wouldn’t trade Dudek for anything.”
Dudek remembers the first time he met Parks. Back then, he was on Todd Graham’s staff at Pittsburgh.
Dudek was tasked with giving a 15-year-old Parks and his father a tour of the Panthers’ facilities. At one point, he let Parks hold the Heisman Trophy.
Right away, Dudek knew this wasn’t just another visit, or any sort of cookie-cutter interaction between coach and recruit.
“It was an immediate reaction of ‘we’re cut from the same cloth,’” Dudek said. “I remember cracking jokes with his dad, with him. We just enjoyed each other’s company and had a really good time. Some of those tours are informative and you’re answering a lot of questions and you’re a host, some it’s not even like you’re doing it. It’s like you’re hanging out with your buddy, and your family.”
Pitt wouldn’t last. Dudek soon left for Rutgers, where he kept trying to recruit Parks. Parks was ready to visit when Dudek was hired away to join Rich Rodriguez’s UA staff.
So of course, one of the first messages he sent as Arizona’s recruiting coordinator was to his buddy, Willy from Philly.
“I remember thinking how many schools is he going to fly over to come to Arizona?” Rich Rodriguez said. “He was fun to recruit, he had a great smile, great personality and a good athlete and he’s been a contributor since the day he got on campus.”
It didn’t take too much convincing getting Parks to come to Arizona.
“He was all-in quick,” Dudek said. “It was snowy days back then. I said, ‘Hey, it’s 70 and sunny out here; you want to come out for the weekend?’ He couldn’t wait to get out here.”
Added Parks: “It was 70 degrees in January and I went to a swim meet. So I just said, ‘I’m coming.’ And it worked out.”
•••
As Parks departs with dreams of the NFL, Arizona is set to bring in another recruit from the City of Brotherly Love. Running back Tyliek Raynor of Imhotep Institute is one of the UA’s most unique prospects. Parks said he and Raynor talk almost every day, and Raynor will often ask him how things are going, how everybody’s treating him.
His response is usually the same.
First, he talks about the community, which he says is “like no other.”
“Coming where I come from, the hospitality out here is different insofar as knowing you’re a focal point,” he said. “There’s one game in town, and everybody is coming to watch you play, everybody knows who you are. They hold you to a higher standard.”
The tough part, certainly, is being so far away from home.
Parks’ father came to a game at Arizona Stadium earlier this season but that’s it. His mom, Nyerere, has yet to visit, and hasn’t been able to watch many of Arizona’s late-night games.
Nyerere recently took a job with the city, putting up sheet rock.
“My mom does that. I don’t like that,” Parks said. “She’s tired every day. But she’s gonna get a chance to watch me play. I just can’t wait for her to get out here.
“The first thing she’s gonna do when she sees me is cry. So I just gotta be prepared for that.”
•••
Nyerere won’t be the only one to shed a tear for Parks on Saturday.
“Uncle Matty D” will release some waterworks, too.
Dudek and Parks have become family. No matter that Dudek is from Pittsburgh, and Parks is from Philadelphia.
Parks has been around him long enough to watch Dudek’s three daughters grow up — “they love him,” Dudek said. Dudek has been around Parks long enough to watch him become a man.
“I’m like his goofy uncle, and I’m OK with that,” Dudek said. “My family is his family, and when his family comes into town, I can’t wait to see his mom and his dad again this year. It’s like reconnecting with family.”
That relationship is, certainly, a two-way street.
“That man, I can’t even,” Parks said. “There are so many words out there you can describe for a person, and he can be all of them. All the positive ones. He’s a goofball. A funny character. I learned so much from him, and I’m very thankful for him. Every time I talk to my dad, the one person he does ask about is, ‘How’s my man Dudek doing?’
“I’ll tell Dudek, and he’ll say, ‘Tell Big Willy I said hello!’ It’s the same thing every time. He’s family.”
