Here's Why 10 Former Huskies, Not 7, Got Drafted

Three one-time UW players who played for the 2023 team also were summoned by the pros.

Parker Brailsford was the Huskies' starting center in 2023. | Skylar Lin Visuals

As the names were called out during the three-day, seven-round NFL Draft, seven University of Washington football players from last season's team were among the lucky ones to land with pro franchises.

Yet among the 257 picks, the total of former Huskies getting picked this time was 10 in all, counting those individuals who fled the program for Alabama when Kalen DeBoer changed jobs.

As verified once more by the draft, DeBoer took some of the best players from Montlake with him -- in wide receiver Germie Bernard, tight end Josh Cuevas and center Parker Brailsford -- when he left to became the Crimson Tide head coach.

Germie Bernard runs down a UW practice pass. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Bernard ended up as the 47th overall pick in the second round for the Pittsburgh Steelers, coming eight draft slots behind former UW wide receiver and teammate Denzel Boston, who was taken by the Cleveland Browns.

The 6-foot-2, 290-pound Brailsford went in the fifth round with the 146th pick to the Browns, where he and Boston will become teammates once more.

And, finally, Cuevas was picked up in the fifth round with the 173rd overall pick by the Baltimore Ravens, where he'll be reunited with former UW offensive tackle Roger Rosengarten, with those two often lining up side by side in 2023.

Josh Cuevas comes out of a stance at the UW with Nick Sheridan monitoring his play. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Each of these former Huskies turned Alabama converts were integral parts for the UW's 14-1 team that made it to the College Football Playoff national championship game, where it lost to Michigan.

Bernard transferred in from Michigan State and Cuevas from Cal Poly, while Brailsford was a Husky recruit who redshirted in 2022 before becoming the starting center and briefly a first-unit guard the following season.

Only Boston and edge rusher Zach Durfee among the seven current Husky draftees were teammates with the Alabama-bound trio on the 2023 UW team.

Of the other Husky draft picks, running back Jonah Coleman and cornerbacks Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock all played for Arizona in 2023 -- against Bernard, Brailsford and Cuevas -- and eventually followed coach Jedd Fisch to the UW.

UW draftees in offensive tackle Carver Willis and defensive tackle Anterio Thompson transferred in this past season from Kansas State and Western Michigan, and had no interaction with the Alabama Huskies.

All of it just goes to show how much football talent has come through Montlake in just the last three seasons.