Jayvon Parker Gets Healthy to Become DL Starter

The junior from Detroit had missed a lot of fall camp with some ailment.

Jayvon Parker (94) and Sebastian Valdez (50) are the starting UW defensive tackles for the opener. / Skylar Lin Visuals

After practicing in private for a week, the University of Washington football team has emerged with at least one new starter for Saturday night's opener against Weber State, installing junior Jayvon Parker as a first-team defensive tackle in depth charts released on Monday.

The 6-foot-3, 297-pound Parker -- who has appeared in 21 games over two seasons but has not drawn a start before -- had missed a good portion of fall camp with some unspecified injury. He didn't play in the Huskies' instrasquad game on Aug. 17.

However, the Detroit product apparently made sufficient strides this past week with his health to overtake 6-foot-3, 307-pound senior Jacob Bandes, who was making a bid to become a full-time starter for the first time in his career.

Parker is one in a set of twins who haven't had much luck lately. Before practice was closed, his brother Armon, a 6-foot-3, 312-pound defensive tackle, was still dealing with what appeared to be a knee injury suffered in spring ball and hadn't been able to practice since April.

Jayvon Parker seemingly has been on a fast track since joining the program after he and his brother were brought in by Kalen DeBoer's staff. He played in eight games as a true freshman and didn't use a redshirt. He often was needed when older teammates such as Tuli Letuligasenoa and Faatui Tuitele were slowed by injuries in 2022.

Last season, this Parker played steadily in 13 of 15 games providing depth up front. He has career totals of 9 tackles and a sack.

The positions still in competition, according to Jedd Fisch's first publicly released UW depth chart, are both starting cornerback spots and one of the safeties.

Arizona transfer Ephesians Prysock and returning starter Elijah Jackson are listed as sharing one corner spot, juniors Thaddeus Dixon and Darren Barkins are competing for the other without an outcome yet, and Sacramento State transfer Cameron Broussard and sophomore Makell Esteen currently are still deciding a starting safety role.

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