Huskies Will Bid Farewell to State of Arizona, But Not Its Players

With the Pac-12 breaking up, the University of Washington will play a football game in the state of Arizona on Saturday night with no prospects for another outing any time soon.

While the UW is bound for the Big Ten and Arizona and Arizona State will relocate to the Big 12, the Huskies are faced with not visiting this desert territory following more than four decades of near annual trips to either Tucson or Tempe.

Surely, the warm fall temperatures and the authentic Mexican food will be sorely missed by the fans, but of more pressing concern to Kalen DeBoer's program is how much it relies on the Grand Canyon state as a fertile recruiting ground and welcomes any game exposure to attract new talent.

Outside of California and Washington, the UW has more players in uniform from Arizona, especially in key positions, than anywhere else.

The Huskies treat Arizona much like it once did Hawaii, as an annual grab bag. They currently rely on this Southwest oasis for players even more so than Texas.

For Saturday night's game in Tucson against the Arizona Wildcats, the UW will start three Arizonans in All-America edge rusher candidate Bralen Trice (Phoenix), sixth-year senior safety Dominique Hampton (Glendale) and ultra promising redshirt freshman center Parker Brailsford (Mesa) — and it would have been four had original center Matteo Mele (Tucson) not suffered a season-ending bicep injury.

Brailsford, with all-conference potential after starting at center and guard, briefly considered the nearby Wildcats before signing on with DeBoer's coaching staff.

"They offered me," he said. "I was thinking about it a little bit."

Add to the mix special-teamers in Grady Gross (Scottsdale), who handles the place-kicking, and Jaden Green (Gilbert), who provides the long-snapping.

Filling out the UW's Arizona roster contingent is redshirt freshman edge rusher Lance "Showtime" Holtzclaw (Mesa), who's bound to be a starter at some point once the disruptive Trice is done with Montlake, and quarterback Will Haskell (Glendale), a San Diego State transfer who will be in the mix with others next season to replace Michael Penix Jr. when he's all finished.

The 6-foot-4, 274-pound Trice counted Arizona and Arizona State among his many offers, as did the versatile Hampton, who plays all secondary positions. Holtzclaw was offered by Arizona, but not Arizona State. Green's father, Gerald, was a Sun Devils running back.

In his return home, Brailsford plans to have eight or nine friends and family members in Arizona Stadium watching him play against the Wildcats.

Typical of this low-key but highly motivated offensive lineman, he doesn't feel the need to prove himself to those in his home state.

"I think they know," Brailsford said. "I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing."

The Huskies, however, will need to readdress how they scour the state of Arizona for more players similar to him, especially without any future football games scheduled.

UW'S ARIZONA CONTINGENT

Parker Brailsford, C-OG — The 6-foot-2, 275-pound redshirt freshman is a rising star, starting twice at right guard before Matteo Mele's injury made him the No. 1 Husky center moving forward.

Jaden Green, LS — After an errant first snap on his first try in 2020, that led to a block and an Oregon State touchdown, the junior has been steady in his 33 games.

Grady Gross, PK — After handling kickoffs in 2022, the sophomore walk-on is the No. 1 kicker now and has made all 25 extra-point kicks and 3 of 4 field goals in four outings.

Dominique Hampton, SS — The versatile defensive back has 46 UW games under his belt, 18 as a starter, and the sixth-year senior just came up with his first career interception.

Will Haskell, QB — The 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore is sitting out a transfer from San Diego State, where he appeared in 6 games and threw 14 passes over two seasons.

Lance Holtzclaw, ER — The man known as "Showtime" is a redshirt freshman who has appeared in 7 games, all 4 this season.

Matteo Mele, C — His Husky career ended prematurely with a bicep injury in the Tulsa game, leaving him at 31 games played with 3 starts, 2 this season.

Bralen Trice, ER — By far the best of the Arizonans, the All-Pac-12 edge rusher, with his sturdy 6-foot-4, 274-pound frame, has appeared in 29 games with 16 starts and continues to raise havoc.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.