Colby Parkinson may be one of the newest members of the Los Angeles Rams, but it's far from his first foray into the area.
Although Parkinson is originally from San Ramon in Northern California, he eventually moved south and attended Oaks Christian School, which is just a few miles away from the Rams' practice facility in Thousand Oaks.
After being out of the area for so long (he went to college at Stanford and spent four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks), Parkinson is extremely happy to return to Los Angeles.
"Just pure excitement," Parkinson said, per the Rams' site. "Obviously, like you said, I grew up around here and love the area, went to Oaks Christian. So the opportunity to come back here and have a role in the community is going to be huge for me and to back in the sunshine and around so many friends and family is going to be a blessing."
According to the Rams' site, Parkinson's parents accompanied him to sign his contract, and he had his wife join him via FaceTime. That's just how much the homecoming meant to him.
Still, connections can only go so far. Luckily, Parkinson also sees himself as a fit in Sean McVay's offense.
"They're working the seams, they're working those deep ins. They're working the gap scheme a lot," Parkinson said. "The way they can do some different things with the single tight end, two tight end sets."
Additionally, Parkinson has also become quite close with new teammate Tyler Higbee, and the two reportedly trained together last offseason. The chance to finally be teammates, rather than division rivals, was another big point in the Rams' favor.
"The past couple years we've gotten to know each other so having him around is going to be a huge blessing," Parkinson said. "I think going into this season, it's not just going to be me being the veteran, he's going to be a huge, huge help, a huge part of it and he's just as much in the room as I will be. So looking forward to working with him and the other guys as well."
More must-reads: