Parker Brothers Finally On Course to Play Together as Huskies

With Saturday night's University of Washington mock football game set to begin, Jayvon Parker walked over to his twin brother, Armon, and began pounding violently on his shoulder pads with both fists. If he couldn't play, he wanted his sibling ready to get after it.

While Armon was in uniform, Jayvon was in sweats.

Usually, it's been the other way around with these two.

With the Parkers entering their fourth season in Montlake, the matching defensive tackles from Detroit still haven't played together in a game yet as Huskies, a lingering source of frustration for them, but they're getting closer to making this happen.

After sitting out last season with a knee injury, the 6-foot-3, 315-pound Armon has been fully involved in fall practices, rotating in and out with the second set of tackles, and appears ready to make his college debut in 12 days in the opener against Colorado State.

In the mock game, Armon twice was credited with solo tackles on running back Jonah Coleman, one for no gain, the other after catching up with him from behind following a 15-yard gainer.

Meantime, the 6-foot-3, 320-pound Jayvon Parker seems to be close to recovery from an Achilles tendon tear suffered 11 months ago against Rutgers.

"Jayvon Parker, he'll probably be a game-time decision to see if he's ready or not," UW coach Jedd Fisch said of the opener, before backtracking some. "Probably thinking week two or three with him,"

Armon Parker, left, and Jayvon Parker, black T-shirt, leave the practice field together. | Dan Raley

The Parker brothers continue to be intriguing yet muted finds for the Huskies since former recruiting director Courtney Morgan squired them out of the state of Michigan without any interference from the Big Ten teams on the scene.

When healthy, Jayvon Parker might be the UW's top defensive tackle. Teammates claim he's the strongest player on the team with a 400-plus bench press.

He's nearly 25 pounds heavier in a year's time, bypassing his brother, who previously had been the bigger Parker.

Armon and Jayvon Parker were both injured and out of the Sun Bowl, but upbeat. | UW

Neither twin has quite realized his full Husky potential just yet, but there's still time.

Jayvon was helped off the field at Rutgers while he was enjoying his finest college football outing, coming off the bench to pile up 5 tackles in just over three quarters of play in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Pro Football Focus determined that Jayvon had graded out with the third-best defensive tackle performance nationwide that weekend, giving him an 88.2 assessment out of 100.

As much as he's played -- 25 UW games -- and as well as he's done it, Jayvon still hasn't started a college game.

Injured Jayvon Parker is helped to the locker room at Rutgers with a torn Achilles heel. | Dan Raley

Whenever that happens, and Jayvon is still just a junior after receiving a medical redshirt for the 2024 season, he'll probably never come out of the lineup.

As for Armon, he's been an intriguing talent ever since former Husky defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell suggested this Parker might be the quicker of the two, especially since Jayvon had played right away and a lot as a true freshman.

Armon had knee injuries cancel out his freshman and third seasons in Montlake, but he finally should be rewarded simply by getting into the first game of the season.

By the Apple Cup game at Washington State, if not before, it's possible the Parkers might do something even better than log game snaps or tackles.

If they can both maintain a clean bill of health and playing momentum, maybe, just maybe, they'll find themselves in on a college play together.

Right after, they pound each other's shoulder pads.

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