Only a week into his transition from high school to college, Austin Parks has already felt the ramp-up in rigor.
The Buckeye freshman out of St. Marys Memorial just moved onto campus last Monday and won’t start classes for another eight days. But on the hardwood, he’s been cast right into the fire.
Not that Parks, a three-star prospect and the fifth-rated Ohio prospect in the 2023 class, hasn’t welcomed the increased degree of difficulty inherent to the process.
“I’m having a great time, but it comes with tough work. They’re working me hard and getting me better, so I’m enjoying it,” Parks said during an interview at Ohio State’s high school team camp on Friday. “But just gotta keep on pushing. (The hardest part has been) probably anything with (strength coach Quadrian Banks). He’s been pushing us and getting us better and stronger and getting us ready for the season. I’ve got no injuries right now, my biggest challenge, my goal is changing my body for the better, which Q and all my coaches are helping me with.”
Welcome hme @AustinParks2023 Lets work!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/ALxzb2L0Aw
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) June 5, 2023
Standing at 6-foot-10, Parks has put on 20 pounds since committing to Ohio State during his junior year of high school on Feb. 13, 2022. The 25th-ranked center in the nation weighed in around 255 upon getting his measurements from the Buckeye training staff, but wants to lean out his frame and build muscle so that he can begin his freshman season closer to 250 pounds.
Of course, Parks isn’t the only incoming Buckeye starting a new chapter in their basketball career. As of Friday, all four members of Ohio State’s talent-rich 2023 class have arrived in Columbus to begin acclimating to the program. Aside from Parks, four-star recruits Taison Chatman (No. 40 overall), Devin Royal (No. 49) and Scotty Middleton (No. 50) give the Buckeyes three top-50 prospects with which to bolster their 2023-24 roster.
Beyond improving his fitness, another one of Parks’ summer goals is to build bonds with his fellow freshmen, who he said are all living together.
“I love these guys, man. We’re all dorming together so we’re all in the same apartment and all that and we’re getting to know each other a lot more,” Parks said. “So making new friends and we’re gonna be building a lot more chemistry living together.”
Other new arrivals to Ohio State include transfer portal additions Jamison Battle, Dale Bonner and Evan Mahaffey, three players Parks plans to lean on for tutelage given the experience they bring into the program.
But perhaps more than anyone else, Parks hopes to learn from returning Ohio State big men Zed Key and Felix Okpara. Parks said Key, whose junior season came to an end in mid-February due to a shoulder injury, remains limited while he goes through rehab. Still, Parks said he’s “always there with us, conditioning, doing whatever he can to get back.” In Key’s absence late in the season, Okpara showed flashes of brilliance in a regular starting role, and could take a major step up after his first year of college basketball.
Back to work #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/JQVLDgzu9a
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) June 6, 2023
Parks knows both players will be difficult to usurp in terms of minutes this season, but he wants to soak up as much knowledge as possible and won’t back down from competing against them along the way.
“Both of them offer great opportunities for me to just learn and watch and get better,” Parks said. “Obviously, they’re gonna be tough to beat out, but I just see it as an opportunity to build my game and go off of them and have them teach me more.”
Parks committed to the program during a season in which it won at least 20 games for the fifth season in a row and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive campaign (if you include the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season). But during his senior year at St. Marys, the Buckeye state native watched his future college team struggle through its worst season under head coach Chris Holtmann.
Following a 16-19 year that saw the Buckeyes miss the Big Dance for the first time since the Thad Matta era, Parks said Ohio State is determined to flip the script in 2023-24. He said Ohio State’s Big Ten Tournament run, during which it became the first-ever No. 13 seed to make it to the semifinal round, was more indicative of what the team can be moving forward.
“They really showed who they really are at the end of the season,” Parks said. “Yeah, that stretch was tough, but there were a lot of close games, a lot of minor details that really cost us a lot of wins. But playing together and fixing, tweaking up their game at the end really proved that we can be dangerous.”
Parks said Okpara, along with last year’s freshman standouts Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr., are leading the way in terms of leadership early in the summer.
“Those are the guys that are pushing us the most in the weight room or on the court. A lot of them played last year, we had a lot of freshmen playing,” Parks said. “And now that they are more experienced themselves, they can give a lot of wisdom to the younger guys and even some of the older guys. And they push us more than anybody, I think.”
Parks likes what he’s seen at Ohio State so far, but knows he’s barely tipped his toes into Big Ten waters. The official start of his first season is still five months away, and Parks is eager to begin his college basketball career in earnest.
“I haven’t even seen all of it yet, this is just the first little bit. So after I get through this, there’s gonna be a lot more fun waiting for me,” Parks said. “And then when the season starts, that’s when it’s gonna really start picking up and I’ll have a lot more fun.”
