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The Steady Rise of Parker Brailsford to Husky Greatness

Originally posted on FanNation Husky Maven | By Dan Raley | Last updated 12/7/23

He was a Jimmy Lake recruit, a somewhat undersized offensive lineman from Mesa, Arizona, someone who maintained his University of Washington football scholarship offer during the coaching change to Kalen DeBoer when others were let go, yet didn't play a down as a freshman.

Center Parker Brailsford emerged this week as a second-team All-Pac-12 selection and a All-Freshman team pick by Football News, and remains fastest rising player on the roster for a 13-0 team headed into the College Football Playoff against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

The 6-foot-2, 275-pound redshirt freshman is really good and people across the national landscape are just finding out.

Brailsford is deceptively strong and unusually fast for a player in the trenches, not to mention talented enough to move from starting right guard to the No. 1 center position just two games into the season when senior Matteo Mele was lost with an injury.

"He's really smart," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said. "You can see it in the way he plays. You can hear it in the way he talks."

Twenty-four months ago, DeBoer met with the media to introduce a bare-bones Husky recruiting class that consisted of just six players, a smallish group of mostly Lake retainees that was considered unavoidable collateral damage because of the coaching change.

Wide receiver Germie Bernard was the big prize of this group, yet a few weeks later he would ask for his scholarship release and transfer to Michigan State before returning to the UW this season. Fellow Arizonan, edge rusher Lance Holtzclaw, was coming to Montlake with the great nickname "Showtime"

Tight end Ryan Otton, receiver Denzel Boston and safety Tristan Dunn were the requisite local roster additions, with Otton following his highly regarded brother Cade to the UW, Boston providing an extra tall 6-foot-4 frame for a pass-catcher and Dunn flipping late from a commitment to Arizona State.

That left Brailsford. Whereas a quarterback commit was turned away late in the process, as was a tight end, sending them to other schools, Brailsford was the first to submit his national letter of intent on the December signing day, proving he was not only wanted but totally on board.

And then he came in for DeBoer's first season and didn't play in any games.

Brailsford was one of two freshmen in his class, which was expanded with the later signings of the Parker twins Jayvon and Armon at defensive tackle and Jaivion Green at cornerback, who didn't get on the field on Saturdays. Armon Parker was the other, but he was recovering from knee surgery.

At this point, one had to wonder if Brailsford was way behind his fellow Husky classmates.

Actually, no. He simply was in steady development as an offensive lineman, patiently learning his craft and welcoming the college football classroom time.

"A lot of people think scout team is a bad thing," Brailsford said last spring. "It's 'Oh, I'm on the scout team. I'm not playing or whatever.' But that's the time you can work on all of your technique and work on everything you need to work on to be able to play. I'd say scout team [for me] is definitely a big factor."

Brailsford now has those 13 Husky starts at two positions under his belt for an unbeaten and second-seeded CFP qualifier. So young and promising, he's been singled out by the Pac-12 as one of its better players, something the Big Ten likely will claim next season, as well.

Asked if anyone had gotten the better of him this season, Brailsford pointed to a Big Ten player, Michigan State defensive tackle Simeon Barrow, for beating him off the ball. Yet he learned from it and this apparently didn't hurt the Huskies any that day, because they won 41-7 in East Lansing, easily picking up the third win of their unbeatable run.

"We're really a good team," he said. "On top of that, we're a brotherhood. We really love each other, I think a lot of teams don't necessarily feel that way about each other and they just play football. Here it's a family."

Playing alongside three juniors and a sophomore on the offensive line, with two of them likely to turn to the NFL after this season, Brailsford fits in nicely as this likable rather than annoying little brother.

This article first appeared on FanNation Husky Maven and was syndicated with permission.

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