Freshman All-American Center Parker Brailsford to transfer to the Alabama Crimson Tide
Kalen DeBoer has quickly found a way to fix Alabama’s snapping issues from 2023
Since Nick Saban’s retirement, Alabama has lost a number of athletes to the transfer portal. Fans of Alabama have expressed varied degrees of alarm over this, but the Washington Huskies are another club going through a similar scenario at the moment.
Interestingly enough, the Huskies finished second to the national champions and are now sort of Alabama’s roster reinforcement pool.Austin Mack, a very gifted quarterback, has already joined the Tide.
This weekend, the Tide got even better news: Alabama likely has their starting center for next season:
Alabama football received its second transfer portal commitment under new coach Kalen DeBoer late Saturday
night when Washington center Parker Brailsford declared he was joining the Crimson Tide on Instagram.
In 2023, Brailsford redshirted as a freshman and started all 15 games for the Washington offensive line, which won the Joe Moore Award, which is granted to the finest offensive line in the country. The 275-pound, 6-foot-2 lineman started three games at right guard and twelve at center. With the departures of starting guard Stephen McLaughlin (transferred to Ohio State), backup Darrian Dalcourt (graduation), and possible starter Terrence Ferguson II (transferred to Florida State), he is anticipated to play center for Alabama. Brailsford will be eligible for an additional three years.
After an entire season of snapping issues, finding a new center had to be one of, if not the, top priority for new had coach Kalen DeBoer.
Parker Brailsford is that answer. The redshirt freshman started last season at guard before moving to center after the first couple of games of 2023. Brailsford became a first-team Freshman All-American and a second team All- PAC 12 player in his first season of college football. The first team center ahead of him was Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, who’s projected to be a fringe first-round NFL prospect in this draft.
According to PFF grades (for whatever stock you put into those), he had both run blocking and pass blocking grades north of 81, and is the highest graded returning center in the entire country. In other words – this guy is GOOD.
“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.”
With those 13 Husky starts under his belt at two spots, Brailsford is now the second-seeded and undefeated CFP qualifier. He’s been named one of the Pac-12’s best players at such a young age, and the Big Ten will probably make the same claim the next season.
When asked who had defeated him so far this season, Brailsford named Michigan State defensive end Simeon Barrow, a member of the Big Ten, for taking him off the ball. However, he took it as a lesson, and the Huskies appeared unaffected by it that day as they triumphed 41-7 in East Lansing, comfortably capturing their third victory in their unstoppable run.
In terms of mentality, Brailsford was one of just ten recruits who continued to play for the Huskies in 2022 following Jimmy Lake’s dismissal and Kalen DeBoer’s appointment. Redshirting his first season, he used his scout time to carefully grow and refine his talents while DeBoer added more seasoned players via the transfer portal. That level of commitment to persevering through adversity and improving oneself is really inspiring.
The majority of evaluations start off by highlighting his athleticism as an outside runner and pass blocker, as well as his capacity to change and advance throughout a game. He might be defeated once by a defensive tackle, but that won’t happen again.
But despite his lighter weight (only 280 pounds), he’s also known to be exceptionally strong:
For time served as a young man, the adroit Brailsford could surpass any of them in terms of early career successes. His strength, which includes the ability to bench press over 100 pounds beyond his body weight, has left his coaches in awe.
Grubb remarked, “He’s almost awkwardly strong for his size.” “He’s among the stronger men in the room.”
Reading about Brailsford keeps bringing up William Vlachos of Alabama from early in Nick Saban’s coaching career. a diligent worker who is much stronger than his stature would suggest.
Here are a couple videos that Brett Greenburg provided from his first season:
Man, look at all of those snaps being perfectly in time and in the correct place where the QB can just immediately do what he needs to do to get the play going.
The blocks are all really stunning as well.
Brailsford, together with Tyler Booker and Jaeden Roberts, could be the best interior three of blockers in the nation. Brailsford should be the starting quarterback for the Tide going forward.
Though the Tide will still need to work on their tackles, having the center position worked out puts them ahead of where they were in 2023—and, to be honest, where they’ve been since Landon Dickerson graduated in 2020. Of course, an OL is only as good as its weakest link.
