UW's Jayvon Parker Ready To Battle the Hometown School
HOUSTON — As the Washington Huskies prepare to take on the Michigan Wolverines, two players on coach Kalen DeBoer's roster with a special connection to the Wolverines are twin defensive tackles Armon and Jayvon Parker.
Armon, a redshirt freshman and Jayvon, a sophomore, played high school football at Fordson High School in Michigan before being part of DeBoer's initial recruiting class in 2022. Now, after facing Michigan State twice in their young careers, they have to square off with coach Jim Harbaugh and Michigan for the CFP national championship.
"Getting to face my home team from my home state is crazy," Jayvon said during Saturday's media day. "I've got a lot of family who root for Michigan, but they've all changed this week to root for us."
With his brother still working his way back from a knee injury he suffered shortly after signing with Washington, Jayvon saw a decreased role in 2023 after he was forced into action as a true freshman because of injuries along the defensive line, but he's taken the opportunity to grow in his second year.
"I try to do whatever I can to help the team win," Parker said. "I've worked on becoming a better communicator with my teammates, gotten better in the film room so I'm more prepared with what the team needs from me to contribute and I've also tried to become a better athlete so I can be better at stopping the run."
The Wolverines come into Monday's national championship game with one of the nation's best offensive lines and an elite rushing attack, headlined by running back Blake Corum.
Washington's most likely plan of attack to slow down Michigan's offense will be crowding the line of scrimmage to stop the run and forcing quarterback J.J. McCarthy to make tough throws to beat single coverage.
Co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell's strategy will require a high level of execution from his defensive line, which will ask a lot of Parker. While he has mainly played on a limited snap count as a pass rusher, he could be an important piece for the Huskies as they attempt to counter Michigan.
"They have a really good offensive line, they're really good as a group and know how to communicate with each other," Parker said.
"But one-on-one, I feel like we can exploit some matchups, we might be able to win some battles with speed moves and with power moves, and we just need to be at our best and be physical."
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