Parham Didn't Do His Homework in Coming to UW -- He Wasn't Going to Start

The linebacker now has to wait until Dec. 9 to enter the transfer portal.

Bryun Parham played four games for the UW before leaving the team. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Bryun Parham joined the University of Washington football team with sufficient linebacker credentials, collecting 106 tackles for San Jose State and earning All-Mountain West honorable-mention honors in 2023, which must have made him feel invincible.

Trouble was, he didn't do his. homework.

He could have asked any one of the handful of sports writers who called him once he transferred about the chances of him beating out either the Huskies' returning Alphonzo Tuputala or Carson Bruener, sixth- and fifth-year seniors, for a starting job in Montlake and been told they weren't great.

Instead Parham became the prototypical highly mobile college football player in today's game who pulled up stakes at the UW just a month into the season and left Jedd Fisch's program with the following stat line: 11 tackles, a forced fumble and a goal-line pass break-up in 4 outings played with a lone start.

Whereas he came to the Huskies to enhance his NFL prospects, he might have hurt them by sliding to the background with this team. His coach was diplomatic in discussing the player's decision.

“He just felt like the situation for him here [is] he wanted to try to maintain one more year of eligibility and I think maybe have a place to go start,” Fisch said. “But we wish him the best and he’ll have the opportunity to go into the transfer portal when the year ends."

Parham can enter the transfer portal when he next window opens from Dec. 9 to Jan. 7.

Parham showed he was a good but not great player or otherwise he would have unseated Tuputala or Bruener.

In fact, the talent level at the UW was so much greater for the 5-foot-11, 212-pound player from Long Beach, California, appeared to be passed by freshman linebacker Khmori House in some situations.

Bryun Parham celebrates a goal-line PBU against Northwestern with fellow UW linebackers Carson Bruener (42) and Alphonzo Tuputala (11). / Skylar Lin Visuals

For the UW, he opened against Northwestern and had his biggest moment when he alertly deflected a pass on fourth-and-1 stop at the goal line.

Fisch said the linebacker will be allowed to continue to use his scholarship, take classes at the UW and utilize its medical resources, but he's no longer affiliated with the team.

By appearing in just four games, Parham took the opportunity to use a redshirt for the remainder of this year and play an entire season somewhere else in 2025, almost treating his Husky experience as if it never happened.

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