STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Parker Washington’s letter of intent was already signed, but on the day that Taylor Stubblefield, then Penn State’s new wide receivers coach, met Washington for the first time, the high schooler was a little uneasy.

James Franklin had already flown into Houston the week before to reassure Washington that although the position coach who recruited him, Gerad Parker, had left to become West Virginia’s offensive coordinator, Franklin was going to hire someone to bring much-needed stability to the receiving corps.

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“We were heartbroken when Coach Parker left,” said Chris Washington, Parker’s father. “I mean, it looked like it was as soon as Parker signed that letter of intent. It was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”

Parker and his family knew nothing about Stubblefield when he was hired. They told Parker throughout his recruitment to never get too attached to any coach, but now Stubblefield, who was on his 11th coaching stop since the 2007 season, was hopping on a plane to reassure them their son was stepping into a great position.

Fans may remember Stubblefield getting there so quickly that he forgot to take off his University of Miami belt buckle as he posed in a photo with Parker that was shared on social media. But the reality was Stubblefield didn’t need long to make the four-star wide receiver recruit feel comfortable.

“We were sitting there and we talked for a little while, and next thing you know it was just Coach Stubblefield and Parker at the other side of the table, and he went right to work quizzing Parker,” said Chris Washington. “He was like, ‘Hey, all right, if you see this, what do you do?’ And they’re like drawing things out on the table. And so he was sitting there quizzing him, and that’s the kind of stuff that Parker likes and I immediately was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s good.’

“He was hard. I mean, he wasn’t trying to be ‘Oh, come to Penn State. I love you.’ He was like, ‘OK, I want to know what you know.’ … After that first meeting, I was like, ‘OK. I’m good.’ My nerves went away.’”

Fast forward 16 months, and Stubblefield’s hiring has given Penn State’s wide receiving corps stability after it previously experienced a revolving door of coaches. Stubblefield entered last season as the fourth receivers coach in four seasons. His recruiting efforts have gotten him promoted to offensive recruiting coordinator, a role he picked up this winter after Tyler Bowen left to join Urban Meyer in Jacksonville.

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Stubblefield’s pitch to Washington was that his freshman season wouldn’t be his best but that they’d continue developing him. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound receiver became one of the Nittany Lions’ biggest bright spots during his nine-game freshman season, starting every game and finishing with 36 receptions for 489 yards and six touchdowns. Now, the stage is set the stage for Washington’s next challenge.

This spring, he had a chance to keep building a rapport with quarterback Sean Clifford, an opportunity they didn’t have last year during a disjointed offseason in which Clifford and Washington did not get to throw together until a few weeks before the season opener. With Jahan Dotson and Washington, the receiving corps has two proven playmakers returning.

“Last year, I really felt I started to feel comfortable when I started to get more time with Coach Stubbs,” Parker said last month. “He definitely helped me a lot, especially learning defenses and like getting comfortable with how fast college football really was. And I felt like once I got more time with him, I was comfortable and I was ready to go.”

The relationship between Stubblefield and Washington is described by those who know Parker best as “two peas in a pod.” Parker’s affinity for Gerad Parker was largely because he wanted a position coach who would stay on him and help him perfect the finer points of his game. Parker wants to be a student of the game and loves dissecting the details, putting careful attention to his film study like it’s some kind of scientific study or a complex equation.

Stubblefield exuded energy similar to what Gerad Parker brought. Though Stubblefield’s favorable first impression with Parker was important, so, too, was his next call, on FaceTime a few days later with Parker’s sister, Ashton.

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Ashton has always taken on a protective, big-sister role with her brother, who is six years younger. As the story goes, she wanted a little sister and got Parker instead. As kids, Parker would yell for his mom to yell at Ashton for keeping him in line, shouting, “She’s not my mom!”

Ashton would accompany Parker to his youth football practices not by choice, but because Chris, who played football at Mississippi State and the Air Force Academy, started coaching Parker when he was young enough to look like a bobblehead in his oversized football uniform. When they traveled throughout Texas for football games — with 10-year-old Parker once getting his teeth knocked out by a powerhouse team from Dallas and Chris there to collect the tooth from the referee — Ashton was never far behind.

“Our relationship is real close,” Parker said. “We talk on the daily, and she always sends me stuff that keeps me going. I’m definitely grateful to have her as a part of my life.”

Eventually, brother and sister traversed his recruitment together. Ashton created an Excel spreadsheet because she knew there was no way Parker would remember his thoughts about every school’s academic staff, majors, football staff and campus without it. When he asked his family if they thought Wisconsin was right for him, they knew it wasn’t — simply because he had to ask. He needed to figure this out on his own, and when one school felt right, they assured him he’d know.

He didn’t want to visit Penn State for the pageantry of a spring game but rather just a normal practice. Ashton flew with him and saw how he lit up walking around Penn State’s campus, marveling that the school and stadium were seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The good news for Penn State was Parker was born in Starkville, Miss., and as Chris put it, he “is a good old country boy at heart.” Central Pennsylvania had an appeal that other schools didn’t because of the location.

“He likes to ride the four-wheelers and get outside in the country and shoot guns and go deer hunting with his uncle,” Chris said.

Ashton wasn’t just any sister accompanying her brother on visits, though. Despite once hating football as she sat through Parker’s youth practices, she grew to love it. She now knows the ins and outs of recruiting better than most and has carved out a career in college football, as she works at Texas Tech in her first season as the football team’s director of recruiting operations and creative content. She spent last season as part of Lovie Smith’s staff at Illinois, where she was the director of high school relations.

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Chris recalled his daughter grilling Power 5 coaches about how they planned to develop and use Parker. Chris would end his phone calls with all coaches who inquired about Parker the same way.

“I was like, ‘Well, it’s good talking to you, Coach, but if his big sister don’t like you, you might as well not even come to the table,’” Chris said. “She was hard on all the coaches.”

Franklin and Stubblefield included.

“(Stubblefield) FaceTimed me and he said, ‘Everybody at the dinner table told me that I was at the wrong table, that I should’ve been calling you,’” Ashton said. “We have to look at the bigger picture of it. You know, it’s a business at the end of the day. Like, for instance, myself, we recruited a whole class up at Illinois and get fired. We leave those kids. That’s just how it is.”

Within that one FaceTime call with Stubblefield, Ashton said their personalities clicked. Stubblefield delivered his recruiting spiel and reassured her he’d develop Parker’s football IQ. Penn State desperately needed a receiver to step up alongside Dotson, but Parker did not enroll until June. With Stubblefield leading position meetings on video calls, nobody knew what would unfold last fall.

Chris said he was shocked that Parker became an opening-game starter. He had to pinch himself watching Parker play against Michigan, when Parker had nine receptions to set a Penn State true freshman single-game record. Still, Ashton was quick to remind Parker of their favorite Kobe Bryant-ism: “Job’s not finished.”

“I’m not much of a cheerleader. I say Mom is the cheerleader and me and Dad are kind of just levelheaded,” Ashton said. “I’m looking at all this stuff and I’m like, ‘OK, you gotta keep going, keep going and keep getting better.’ I think that’s another reason why me and Coach Stubblefield get along so well.”

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Ashton kept an eye on Parker’s games, though the grind of Illinois’ own season kept her from staying glued to her phone while she was on the Illinois sideline. Getting to return to Happy Valley for Penn State’s finale against Illinois and seeing Parker play in person was a memory the family will cherish forever.

Now, as Parker Washington’s college football ascent continues, Stubblefield jokes with Ashton to not be so hard on her younger brother. She laughs with the coach they knew nothing about just 16 months ago, telling him that will never happen.

“He’s always saying, ‘Lighten up! Don’t be so hard,’” Ashton recalled. “I’m like, ‘I know you’re not talking because we act just the same.’”

(Photo: Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)