HARRISBURG, Pa. — "That smell is in the air. Football's got that certain smell," said Lance Deane, with a smile as he looked out over a football field.
If the game of football is in your life, in any way, the next few weeks will happen fast.
For their upcoming camps, Micah Parsons will head west, while Deane is off to Central Dauphin East.
"You know, the work that I put in is really going to show and people are in for a rude awakening," said Parsons of his offseason conditioning.
While Parsons is one of the biggest stars in the Lone Star State, the Dallas Cowboys linebacker learned to play the game in the Keystone State. So, when it comes to training, he makes sure the first number he calls has a 717 area code.
"Lance is like a brother to me," said Parsons. "We're similar in age, so it's hard to look at him as a trainer, but we just push each other. Some days I push harder than he pushes me, some days he amps it up."
"Iron sharpens iron," claimed Deane. "We've made each other better. We push each other. We hold each other to a standard on and off the field in everything we do."
It's a brotherhood that started with one of Parsons' siblings.
"His sister was training to go play overseas basketball," recalled Deane. "This was the same time around COVID. He was in that gray area if he was going to come back or not and came home and wanted to get some work in and ever since then, we've just had that connection."
That training connection occasionally means connecting flights for Deane.
"It's a lot of travel and a lot of back and forth, but I enjoy it. I enjoy getting the chance to work with kids, I enjoy the chance to work with pro athletes as well," said the Central Dauphin East head football coach and pro trainer.
"He learns as much as I learn. We send training videos that we want to incorporate into our workouts," added Parsons. "When you're there, we work like we love it. There's nothing we'd rather do. We're not going anywhere. We're not going to hide from it. We're not going to run from it. We're going to attack the day."
And while Parsons turns heads across the country on Sundays, he knows that some things are just better in South Central Pennsylvania.
"Honestly, something that's slept on is very good Chinese food," laughed Parsons.
"Turn on ESPN and not only are you seeing somebody from your area, you're hearing him mention your city and things that you're able to relate to. I think that goes a long way for these kids," added Deane.