Shaler grad Parker Kilgore sets standard for resurgent Grove City defense

Grove City College football coach Andrew DiDonato’s has a playlist of video clips of senior middle linebacker Parker Kilgore’s greatest hits, and it might start with his first play as a college player.

Instincts drew Kilgore, a Shaler graduate, into a passing lane, where he nearly grabbed an interception.

As the Wolverines rebuilt their program from a 33-game losing streak they snapped in 2017, Kilgore became a key piece on GCC’s defense since he arrived on campus. During a 44-7 Wolverines’ win over Allegheny, Kilgore made 10 tackles to become the program’s all-time leader with 354.

The record was held by Mike Choby, who made 350 tackles during his career at GCC, which stretched from 2001-2004.

DiDonato said Kilgore looks for a model for every position. Kilgore has become the guy at middle linebacker.

“Once you have a guy who has become the model of how that position needs to look, there’s not a lot of reason to go back,” DiDonato said. “The next guy who comes here should replicate what that model shows. …. I have a whole playlist of Parker and that is what a Grove City linebacker should look like.”

While GCC’s turnaround can’t be solely attributed to Kilgore, the Wolverines are 33-11 during his five years in the program. The only season where GCC didn’t finish with a winning record was when the Wolverines went 2-2 during a four-game schedule forced to the springtime due to the pandemic. In the other three seasons, GCC played in and won ECAC Bowl games.

This season, the Wolverines got off to a 6-1 start, including a 4-1 record in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

What has made Kilgore’s transition so easy is that he doesn’t feel overwhelmed by what he’s asked to do. In fact, Kilgore would say he doesn’t have many responsibilities.

DiDonato asks him to do his job. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Everyone has their jobs, and we don’t try to do other people’s jobs,” Kilgore said. “We trust each other to do each other’s jobs. I use the tools they give me to be free and move freely to do my job. Each unit has its vision. My vision is multiple hats to the ball. Technically, my job is to run to the ball and get hats to the ball.”

Finding the ball carrier is usually easy for Kilgore. With a strong defensive line in front of him, Kilgore often has a good line of sight to where the ball carriers are.

“The defensive line does a good job with their job,” Kilgore said. “I just have to scrape, flow free and make tackles for the defense. It’s honestly the guys up front. They make things easy and keep me clean. I’m able to read things easily because I don’t have people in my way.”

Since the beginning, DiDonato has seen what he was looking for.

After initially starting him at outside linebacker to get him on the field as a freshman, DiDonato knew Kilgore would eventually be his guy in the middle.

“He provides a true model of what burst, speed and finish is,” DiDonato said. “We saw that motor when we recruited him out of high school.”