Derek Parish (born January 4, 1999) is an American professional football

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). He played college football at

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Early life

Parish was born on January 4, 1999, and grew up in

Pearland, Texas Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend and Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. At the 2020 U.S. census, ...

. He attended

Pearland High School Pearland High School (PHS) is an American public high school, located in Pearland, Texas, south of Houston. It is one of three high schools in the Pearland Independent School District, and serves parts of Pearland and most of the city of ...

and played football while also running

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the short ...

. Despite being named first-team all-district after posting 12.0 sacks in 2016, Parish was not highly recruited, not even placing on

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heck ...

's and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's rankings and being a three-star prospect. He committed to play college football for the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education inst ...

College career

As a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. A ...

at Houston in 2017, Parish

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

. Although recruited as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

, his position was quickly changed to

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

. He appeared in all 13 games the following year, totaling 21

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking up ...

. He played 12 games in 2019, starting four while posting 38 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks. In the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

-shortened 2020 season, Parish played in all eight games, five of which he started, and tallied 25 tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, and 3.5 sacks, the latter two statistics ranking third on the team. Against

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

that year, he returned a

fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

85 yards for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. In 2021, Parish started all 14 games and was named second-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

(AAC) after recording 56 tackles, 12.5 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks. At the start of 2022, he underwent hip surgery and later surgery for a broken bone on his hand, the latter requiring him to play with a club on his hand. He was named team captain and in the second game of the 2022 season, against

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas ...

, Parish set the AAC record with 4½ sacks, additionally posting 6.5 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble, afterwards being named the national defensive player of the week. However, he then suffered a season-ending torn bicep injury in the fourth game of the year. He had posted 20 tackles, 5.0 sacks and 8.5 tackles-for-loss through that point of the season, ranking third-best nationally in the latter two. Parish was able to return in time to play in the

East–West Shrine Bowl The East–West Shrine Bowl is a postseason college football all-star game that has been played annually since 1925; through the January 2019 playing, it was known as the East–West Shrine Game. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group S ...

, at which he changed his position from defensive end to

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Ameri ...

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Parish was selected by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

in the seventh round (240th overall) of the

2023 NFL draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29 ...

. He was waived on August 29, 2023 and re-signed to the practice squad. He was released on October 16.

Toronto Argonauts

On January 22, 2024, it was announced that Parish had signed with the

as a

Personal life

Parish won an eating competition between his Cougars teammates by eating 7 lbs. (3.175 kg) of

steak A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into pat ...

in one sitting.

References

External links

Houston Cougars bioToronto Argonauts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Derek 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Pearland, Texas Pearland High School alumni American football defensive ends American football fullbacks Houston Cougars football players Jacksonville Jaguars draft picks Jacksonville Jaguars players Toronto Argonauts players Canadian football defensive linemen Players of Canadian football from Texas