Brailsford Is Self-Starter, Looking to Become Full-Fledged UW Starter

The redshirt freshman is pushing hard for playing time on the offensive line.
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In examining the career trajectories of those pegged for first-unit roles across the University of Washington offensive line, Troy Fautanu didn't become a full-time Husky starter until his fourth season, fellow tackle Roger Rosengarten not until his third.

Left guard Julius Buelow likewise waited until his third season to become a game-opening player, lost that job after five games, and is making another bid for steady work following a 20-game layoff as a sub.

Right guard Nate Kalepo currently is trying to make a promotion happen entering his fifth season, after previously serving only as a spot starter, and center Matteo Mele is on the verge of becoming the No. 1 guy over the football, finally, in his sixth year.

Redshirt freshman Parker Brailsford — if any of the others lets up in the slightest, at any position — is poised to surpass all of them in making a breakthrough as a starter.

The 6-foot-2, 275-pound Brailsford from Mesa, Arizona, is making it hard for Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff to automatically dole out jobs to the older guys because he feels ready to hold down a lot of responsibility.

"He's absolutely in the mix, for sure," UW offensive-line coach Scott Huff said on Friday. 

Amazingly, Brailsford hasn't appeared in a Husky game yet, with even a token outing in a blowout, instead left to work on his technique and build size throughout his first season in Montlake. He seems ready to play a lot now, whether drawing a game-opening assignment or rotating in in some fashion.

"We played him at tackle, too, just for the record," Huff said of fall camp auditions. "He's a little Nick Harris-esque."

Harris, of course, was a UW offensive lineman who similarly was a little undersized but didn't let his physique or youth prevent him from playing right away. Now with the Cleveland Browns, Harris handled multiple Husky line positions, started four games as a true freshman in 2016 and became a solid starter the next season.

Now comes Brailsford, trying to match him for expedient play and corresponding success.  

"He's really athletic, he's really strong and he plays with really good technique, and it's really a good combination," Huff said. "We play him at a lot of positions. He's really smart."

Brailsford has spent much of this fall camp at back-up center, but this past week he briefly turned up at both No. 1 guard slots when media members were permitted to view practice. His coaches no doubt want to get a long last look at him before holding a final Saturday scrimmage and making their personnel decisions.

"It's a competition between everybody," said Brailsford, who's an even-keel, studious sort. "I don't think anybody's job is really solidified. I just think we're going at it every day."

Whether all of the older guys claim the UW starting jobs or not, Brailsford should play in some capacity this season. His strength is elite, with the Arizonan able to bench press more than 100 pounds over his personal weight, which is significant. He understands leverage angles as well as anyone up front. 

The other guys certainly know Brailsford is lurking about and have to understand he likely won't come out of the starting lineup once he enters it. That would be Harris-esque.

"We'll just see what happens," Brailsford said in understated fashion. 


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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.