It's a Family Affair On Husky Defensive Line with the Parkers

A year ago, Jayvon Parker showed up for his first University of Washington spring football practice and looked absolutely lost.

All of the other players had paired up for stretching exercises and the then-freshman defensive tackle from Detroit stood there all alone, looking around and unsure what to do next.

Luckily, a coach spotted the new kid in this uncomfortable situation, jumped in and served as his partner.

Move 12 months ahead, and a much better acclimated and confident Parker strode into Dempsey Indoor for spring practice on Friday morning, heard the Kool and the Gang song "Get Down On It" blaring loudly overhead and he began to strut. After all, he's from Motown.

Before long, senior defensive tackle Ulumoo Ale had joined Parker with impromptu dance steps, with these two hulking 300-pound college football players proving to be very light on their feet.

"I'm blessed to be here," the personable Parker said of his Seattle surroundings. "It's been a great thing here."

He has further reason to be upbeat because he finally had his twin brother, Armon, in uniform and playing alongside him on the college level, fully recovered from a knee injury suffered during a pickup basketball game back home that forced him to miss last season.

One of the endearing scenes of UW spring practice that continues to play out is the Parker brothers continually lining up next to each other on the No. 2 defense and being extremely hard to handle.

Jayvon was a pleasant surprise in his first year, appearing in eight games for the Huskies to effectively burn his redshirt season should he not need it later. He played a lot against Arizona State, He picked up a sack against Washington State.

While inactive last season, the 6-foot-3, 316-pound Armon is 12 pounds heavier than his brother but said to be noticeably quicker. They're impressive looking physical specimens, solidly built.

That said, the brothers grew up in the middle of Big Ten country and weren't heavily recruited. Jayvon explained that they changed high schools for their senior year as the pandemic had begun to wind down and got lost in the shuffle.

"They didn't really get a good look at us," he said of the local Power 5 programs. "Colleges came in and said, 'If I'd come in earlier, I would have got you all.' "

Armon sent video of his high school football highlights to then new Husky defensive-coach Inoke Breckterfield, who noticed there were two Parkers, and liked what he saw.

Trying to salvage a recruiting class in the wake of the Jimmy Lake firing, Kalen DeBoer's Huskies agreed to take both brothers, which might have been a roadblock for others.

The UW has the twins on the football field once more with the strong suggestion they simultaneously could be starters in Montlake someday, which would make them the first set of twins to do this in program history.

"This year we're just going to do it together," Jayvon Parker said.

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