Inside The Huskies

Brailsford's Exit Lowers UW Returning Starters to 3 from CFP Title Game

The young center's departure is one of the bigger blows for the Huskies moving forward.

Dan Raley

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For a University of Washington football team under new management, they've taken just about all of the meat off the bone.

On Monday, second-team All-Pac-12 center Parker Brailsford revealed he will enter the transfer portal, according to On3.com — leaving the Huskies with only one offensive starter from the CFP championship game against Michigan, and three overall.

Right guard Julius Buelow is all who remains from the UW offense that opened the game in Houston, joined by linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and cornerback Elijah Jackson on the defensive side.

Coming off a superlative redshirt freshman showing, the 6-foot-2, 275-pound Brailsford represents one of the more significant losses for Jedd Fisch, who replaces Alabama-bound Kalen DeBoer as coach, and by a matter of hours the offensive lineman followed potential No. 1 receiver Germie Bernard out the door.

The Huskies are headed for a complete makeover, which seems more and more daunting with each player who exits Montlake.

Brailsford is a talented, versatile player with three seasons of eligibility remaining. He started at right guard for two games before senior center Matteo Mele was lost with a season-ending injury and he seamlessly  transitioned into that position and earned his all-conference honors. 

The attraction to Brailsford is he is exceptionally strong, able to lift 100 pounds more than his playing weight and understands how to use leverage.

From Mesa, Arizona, he apparently didn't want to play for a UW team headed up by a former Arizona coach in Fisch, which is mildly surprising considering he stuck with the Huskies two years ago when the coach who recruited him, Jimmy Lake, was fired and replaced by DeBoer. 

However, Husky offensive-line coach Scott Huff was retained from staff to staff back then, giving Brailsford incentive to stay put. That won't be the case this time with Huff reportedly joining DeBoer in Alabama.

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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.

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