The Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed they were serious about bolstering depth in their defensive secondary Friday when they chose cornerbacks in both the second and third rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.

For Kansas State football's Jacob Parrish , the No. 84 overall pick in the third round, that could be both good news and bad. Good in that the Bucs were serious enough to invest in a second pick so early at the position — they grabbed Notre Dame's Benjamin Morrison at No. 53 in the second round — but also a concern with the number of corners competing for spots on the roster.

But Parrish, who passed up his senior season at K-State to enter the draft, seemed to welcome the challenge during a video news conference with Tampa-area media.

"I'm very blessed to go to Tampa and just ready to get to work," said Parrish, the first of three Wildcats selected in the draft.

He will join a Tampa Bay secondary that brings back starting cornerbacks Zyon McCollum and Jared Dean, as well as backups Josh Hayes ― a fellow former K-Stater ― and Tyrek Funderburk. Then, of course, there is Morrison.

"It's a blessing just getting to work with those guys and learn a few things from the guys," Parrish said. "Iron sharpens iron, so I'm excited."

Parrish is listed at 5-foot-10, 191 pounds, which is on the small side for NFL corners, but that didn't scare the Bucs scouts, who also saw him run a 4.35-second 40-yard dash a couple of months ago at the NFL Scouting Combine. He continued to get stronger physically through his three years at K-State, putting on nearly 20 pounds of muscle.

"The first thing you start with is he's feisty as heck," said Mike Biehl, the Bucs' vice president of player personnel. "He's a tough little sucker, and he's fast."

Parrish does not shy away from contact, as evidenced by his 50 tackles in 12 starts for K-State in 2024 and 44 in his first year as a starter the year before.

"I'm a physical guy," said Parrish when asked for his greatest attribute as a defensive back. "I used to wrestle when I was younger, and I take pride in being physical. I like to hit, all that type of thing, so I'm going to go with my physicality."

Parrish's older brother, Jevon, wrestled at Nebraska.

Although he is not brash by nature, Parrish exhibits a quiet confidence in his ability to fit in either as an outside corner or in the slot as a nickel back, which is where he most likely will start out.

"(In the slot), I'm confident in myself when it comes to playing man coverage," he said. "(On the perimeter), I'll go with my being physical, too, getting hands on the receivers, being able to be in a run fit or playing man, playing zone.

"I'm just very confident in what I'm capable of doing."

K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman appreciated how consistent Parrish was, especially his junior year.

"Jacob Parrish was Steady Eddie," Klanderman said. "You knew what you were going to get from him every day, every meeting, and every practice, every game. He was going to rise to the occasion. He wasn't here one day and gone the next day."

Parrish, in turn, said his experience at K-State will help him transition to the NFL.

"They taught me these four core values of discipline and commitment, toughness and be selfless," he said. "I just live by those four core values each and every day. Those four core values allow me to have success on that field, so I'm going to keep doing those things to have success on Sundays."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.