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Huskies Offer Blocker From Aaron Rodgers' California JC

Connor Gilbreath is a Butte College tight end who should be a Power 5 offensive lineman.
Dan Raley|
Huskies Offer Blocker From Aaron Rodgers' California JC
Huskies Offer Blocker From Aaron Rodgers' California JC

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Washington Huskies

Kalen DeBoer has said he and his University of Washington football staff prefer to develop offensive linemen, not bring them in as transfers.

Connor Gilbreath might be the exception.

Or he might qualify as both.

On Monday, the Huskies offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-6, 255-pound freshman tight end from Butte College in Oroville, California.

The junior-college team didn't throw once to Gilbreath, rather it ran behind him on the edge or made him a fullback and followed him up the middle during its 4-2 season.

Word about this big, strong kid is beginning to circulate through the college ranks.

Besides the Huskies, Gilbreath holds offers from Miami and Wyoming. 

Coming out of University Preparatory School in Redding, California, he actually signed a letter of intent with NAIA Southern Oregon before ending up at Butte, where quarterback Aaron Rodgers began his college career two decades ago.

Initially, he wasn't a Division 1 prospect because he was a kid still growing into his body and the pandemic interrupted his high school career, though his team as a senior finished 13-1.

His Butte football highlight reel should have been enough to convince just about anyone that he has a lot of potential.

Gilbreath is shown pancaking opponents no fewer than 17 times. He blocked a couple of opponents at least 17 yards down field. He turned another player around and moved him 15 yards in the opposite direction of the play. Three times he drive guys out of the end zone.

Entertaining to watch, Gilbreath is clearly an offensive lineman, not a tight end, and a Power 5 player, not a small-college guy.

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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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