Park is rated among the top offensive linemen in the state. He has good size and moves well. He has been a starter on the offensive line since his sophomore year and also will start on defense this season. His younger brother, Austin, a 5-foot-11, 240-pound junior, starts at center next to Ian. Their older brother, Alex, is a quarterback at Dartmouth after transferring from New Hampshire.
Park had scholarship offers from Division I schools before deciding in the spring to attend Northwestern. Pitt was his other top choice. Park is one of two Northwestern recruits playing for Upper St. Clair. Tight end-linebacker Jack Schwaba is the other. Quarterback-linebacker Dakota Conwell is a Pitt recruit.
A lot of people feel like Upper St. Clair is the No. 2 team in Class AAAA behind Central Catholic. Are you guys that good? We have a lot of experienced guys coming back. We're very experienced on the offensive line, and there are a lot of hard workers. We're always very confident going into the year, but people might be talking more this year just because we have three Division I college players. We're trying to just take one game at a time.
>Three words to describe you as a player? Aggressive, tenacious and ... smart.
How is it that two brothers are linemen with size and another brother is a quarterback? I don't know. It started out when we were younger that Austin was a skill player, too -- a running-back type. But he just got too big. I used to always be the odd man out with size, but now I have another brother on the line so Alex is the odd man out now. He's about 6-2, 205 now.
In your house, which brother is in charge? From a physical standpoint, it's me. It used to be Alex. But we can beat him up now, me and Austin.
Why Northwestern? I just felt at home there, and I wanted to play in the Big Ten Conference. It's a great chance to get a great education. Plus, they have a lot of experienced guys there now, so there is a good chance for me to play early.
Wasn't Pitt your leader at one time? Pitt was my leader when [Dave] Wannstedt was there. I liked them a lot. But after he got fired, and they had one coach, and then another coach, I just didn't feel the same about them as I did before.
Do you use Twitter? If so, who do you like to follow? Yes, I use it. Not a lot, though. I like to follow Ramon Foster, the offensive lineman from the Steelers.
Food you can't do without? I'd have to say my grandma's Korean cooking.
Can you tell me a good [Upper St. Clair coach] Jim Render story? We have this formation called "silver" where there are double tight ends. One time, he called for "silver" and started yelling "Hi ho, silver." He started dancing around like he was going to lasso somebody.
Your dad [Chong] played soccer at Upper St. Clair. Did you ever play soccer? I did when I was about 5 years old. But I broke my arm riding a bike, and I was in a cast. I actually started whacking people with the cast in soccer games, so that's when they signed me up for football.
Year: Senior
Height: 6-4
Weight: 290
Pos. OG-DL
First Published: August 26, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
