Husky Roster Review: Jayvon Parker Out to Heal the Heel

Jayvon Parker was having the game of his University of Washington football life when it happened.

At Rutgers, he came up with a career-best 5 tackles in just over three quarters before he felt the searing pain.

In fact, Pro Football Focus singled him out for turning in the third-best defensive tackle performance nationwide that weekend, assigning him an 88.2 grade.

Yet six plays into the fourth quarter of the Big Ten game in Piscataway, New Jersey, this Parker tore his right Achilles heel tendon and he was ushered off the field, helped up the tunnel once the game ended and ruled out for the season.

"Obviously, I feel for Jayvon," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "He's worked extremely hard to get back and really did a nice job for us when he was in the game."

Armon Parker, left, and Jayvon Parker, in shorts, are shown in spring ball. | Dan Raley

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Parker, the heavier and the more experienced of the UW's set of twins from Detroit, now will try to do what former teammates Zion Tupuola-Fetui and Alphonzo Tuputala did.

They recovered from their own Achilles injuries in a relative hurry to extend their football careers, though they weren't able to prevent the UW's 4-8 meltdown oin 2021 under Jimmy Lake's coaching direction.

Armon and Jayvon Parker are shown at the Sun Bowl. | UW

Jayvon Parker has plenty of reasons for returning to active duty in Montlake as quick as he can.

When healthy, he might be the UW's best defensive tackle.

Teammates say he's the strongest player on the team.

As good as he's been, this Parker has appeared in 25 Husky games and hasn't been a starter yet.

And from a sentimental standpoint, Jayvon hasn't played in a UW game with his oft-injured brother Armon, who still hasn't made his Husky debut.

Injured Jayvon Parker is helped to the locker room at Rutgers. | Dan Raley

Entering last season, Jayvon Parker was the lighter of the brothers by nearly 20 pounds when he got hurt and he's now five pounds heavier.

He smiled when his noticeable weight gain was mentioned to him as he headed for the Husky Stadium tunnel following spring practice one day.

In a perfect world for him, Jayvon will be running with the No. 1 defense, making plays and lining up alongside that brother of his.

"We'll certainly do everything we can to allow him to play as much college football as he can, as his brother can," Fisch said, "and hopefully wish them the best to get them into pro football."

JAYVON PARKER FILE

What he's done: Jayvon has a modest 19 career tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, but should be ready to pile up a lot more stats once his Achilles cooperates. Coming out of the Rutgers game, he received an 88.2 PFF grade, which trailed only Cincinnati's Dontay Corleone (89.9) and Notre Dame's Howard Cross III (89.2) that weekend and is based on doing a lot of things right.

Starter or not: This Parker no doubt would have started last fall had he not been injured. He'll likely be eased back into action once the season begins. He was able to redshirt in 2024 and has two years of eligibility remaining. He'll be a starter at some point.

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