2024-09-01 00:15:02
When it comes to football, the chemistry between a center and a quarterback is everything for an offense. A perfectly timed — and placed — snap either allows a play to develop properly or kills a play before it starts.
Something the latter of which was well documented last season for Alabama football in the Rose Bowl vs. Michigan ended when former Crimson Tide center Seth McLaughlin low-snapped the final play of the game leading to Jalen Milroe being stuffed at the line of scrimmage in overtime. It was hardly the first time McLaughlin and Milroe weren’t on the same page on a snap, but it was certainly the most high-profile.
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Between McLaughlin now at Ohio State and Kalen DeBoer bringing in his offensive line coach from Washington, it’s a position that the Crimson Tide looks to have fixed entering the 2024 season with the addition of Parker Brailsford.
At Alabama, Brailsford will look to carry his momentum and success from last season at Washington where he was one of the nation’s top centers. With that, here’s what you need to know on who Brailsford is and more:
Brailsford is entering his first season as Alabama’s starting center, after playing at Washington last season.
He hails from Mesa, Arizona and served as DeBoer’s starting center at Washington for the majority of the 2023 season.
At Washington last season, Brailsford was part of a Huskies offensive line that earned the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the top offensive line in the country. Individually, Brailsford earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors last season as well.
Earlier this month, Brailsford was one of three Alabama players to be named to an Associated Press preseason All-American team. He joined kicker Graham Nicholson as a first team preseason All-American.
Brailsford was one of four players — others being TE Josh Cuevas, WR Germie Bernard and QB Austin Mack — who followed DeBoer from Washington to Alabama over the offseason.
Brailsford committed to the Crimson Tide on Jan. 20 after taking an unofficial visit to Tuscaloosa on Jan. 19. He has three years of eligibility at Alabama after redshirting his true freshman year in 2022 at Washington.
Brailsford is listed at 6-foot-2 on Alabama’s official roster.
Brailsford is 20 years old. He will turn 21 in October.
While Brailsford following DeBoer to Tuscaloosa from Washington was expected once he entered the portal, he was still a highly touted recruit in the transfer portal. He was listed as a four-star recruit on his 247Sports Composite page and the No. 22 nationally-ranked player in the portal. Additionally, 247Sports had him as the No. 2 ranked inside offensive lineman in the portal.
He received similar recruiting grades out of high school by 247Sports. The website listed him as a three-star recruit and the No. 29 ranked inside offensive lineman in the 2022 recruiting class. He was not ranked nationally but was ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the state of Arizona.
Brailsford started all 15 games last season for the Huskies, 13 coming at center and two at right guard — which also goes to show the versatility that he brings to the Crimson Tide. Per his Alabama profile page, he was named the second-most valuable center in the country by Pro Football Focus and received a run-blocking grade of 80.7, which ranked second among all Power Five centers last season.
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