TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The 2023 Washington Huskies made it all the way to the College Football Playoff National Championship game despite not having anywhere near those expectations at the start of the season.

The Huskies offense was one of the most potent units in the country as it had six players taken in the first three rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft. Washington’s front five was a big reason for the team’s tremendous success that season as it won the Joe Moore Award, which is given annually to college football’s best offensive line.

After opting for a redshirt in 2022, Parker Brailsford earned a starting spot on the Huskies offensive line ahead of the 2023 season as the center. He played an integral role in Washington’s stellar season as he was named to the All-Pac 12 Second Team at the end of the year.

When former Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer took the vacant job at Alabama in January 2024, many players followed him to Tuscaloosa, including Brailsford. The Crimson Tide’s offensive line had a rough 2023 season, but the addition of Brailsford alongside OL head coach Chris Kapilovic made a big difference. Alabama allowed 49 sacks in 2023 but just 24 this past season.

Now that Brailsford has a year at Alabama under his belt, he revealed his hopes for the upcoming season.

“It’s kind of a personal goal but kind of not, I want to win the Joe Moore with my O-Line,” Brailsford said on Thursday.

There’s already an obstacle to this goal, though. Alabama lost co-captain and left guard Tyler Booker to the 2025 NFL Draft, as he has a chance to be selected in the first round. The Crimson Tide has multiple players competing to fill Booker’s practically unfillable shoes as A-Day looms.

“It don’t really matter who they put [at left guard], it always feels the same,” Brailsford said. “Geno [VanDeMark] is a smart guy, Kam [Dewberry] is a smart guy. They’re both doing really good in spring ball and I’m excited to just see that battle and see who wins that.”

Building chemistry is essential to the stoutness of an offensive line. This isn’t as easy when a team hasn’t established its starting five just yet, but this factor hasn’t changed Brailsford’s Joe Moore Award mindset.

“It takes time,” Brailsford said. “You’ve got to see who the guys are that are willing to do it, willing to strain and things like that. It’s not going to be exact during spring ball. Even as the whole O-line––whether it be the walk-ons, twos, threes, ones––we’re all pretty tight.

“It takes a long time. Everybody is different. Some groups are a little faster than others…but we’re all a close group and I feel comfortable with all of those guys. The chemistry is there.”

As previously stated, Booker was a co-captain and perhaps the ultimate leader for the Crimson Tide last season. Finding a new leader to push this year’s offensive line will be needed to win the Joe Moore Award. The transfer portal is a massive component of college sports today and Brailsford believes his experience in it combined with a first season at Alabama could help his case as a leader.

“I think it’s been really good getting that year under my belt because I feel comfortable talking to the guys and I have a relationship with the guys…Change is obviously hard. Like for me, it was a little bit hard and I had some things going on back then. But since I’ve been here, I give myself the room and go and talk to and hang out with the guys. That’s just helped me build relationships.”

It’s clear that Brailsford wants to be a leader of the Crimson Tide offensive line. But how far can his leadership take Alabama’s front five this upcoming season?

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – This year, the American Heart Association has their eye on three bills.

At their Alabama Lobbing Day, the organization educated their advocates on what their focus is and how to get lawmakers on board.

“This year, we are advocating to add sporting events and sporting locations to protect children from cardiac arrest,” said advocate Heather Amberson, speaking about automated external defibrillators, or AEDs.

Amberson’s son died from a sudden cardiac arrest while playing an outdoor sport.

She hopes her story will help advocates encourage lawmakers to vote ‘yes’ to House Bill 416, a bill to add more AEDs to schools and sporting grounds in an effort to save more people from cardiac arrest.

The association is also pushing for free breakfasts for all students in Alabama, because a full stomach comes with the full capability for succeeding in the classroom.

In addition to the bills they support, they’re also lobbying against one bill aimed at stopping kids from vaping, House Bill 8.

“HB 8, we are opposing because we agree that students should not be penalized for using vapes when the people selling the vapes won’t be penalized as much,” said Alabama Advocacy Chair for the American Heart Association Heidi Darbo.

Kids found with a vape could be fined up to $1,000.

And while the bill says the money will go towards implementing vaping prevention and education in schools, it has yet to determine a program to implement.

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Kalen DeBoer knows what A-Day means to the Alabama football fanbase. It’s why the Crimson Tide isn’t following in the footsteps of Texas, Nebraska and USC and outright canceling its spring game.

So Alabama football will host fans for a spring football event Saturday afternoon. A game? More like a practice, one that lets DeBoer “show off (his) guys and let (his) guys do their thing.”

But should that be cause for panic for the 2025 season?

To DeBoer, it’s not about the overarching storyline of college football teams using spring games as a transfer portal showcase – even with the Crimson Tide’s A-Day festivities not being televised Saturday.

To DeBoer, he said it’s about control. It’s about having the ability to stop things when he wants to, tinker when he wants to tinker and ensure quality reps over everything else.

But when talking about A-Day in late March and what “the game” itself would look like, control was not first on DeBoer’s mind.

“It’s just that we’re very careful,” DeBoer said.

And as Alabama’s spring practice schedule rolled along, it was clear why “careful” was the first thing on DeBoer’s mind.

Alabama football injury list proves too much for ‘spring game’

Alabama has been ravaged by injuries this spring.

On offense, it starts with tight end. Josh Cuevas, Danny Lewis and Marshall Pritchett have each had their spring shortened with injuries. And with reinforcements not arriving until the summer in freshman Kaleb Edwards, the Crimson Tide is down to five tight ends, only one of whom is a scholarship option: Jay Lindsey.

On the offensive line, Alabama has been without starting left tackle Kadyn Proctor, leading to a mishmash of players: from freshman guard Michael Carroll and freshman tackle Jackson Lloyd, to guard-turned-tackle Olaus Alinen and Ball State transfer Arkel Anugwom, filling in the gaps.

Add a “couple of nicks” to wide receiver Ryan Williams that will likely keep him out Saturday, and you have an offense that is projected to look much different on A-Day than it is expected to look this fall.

On defense, it’s the same story.

Projected starters Deontae Lawson, Domani Jackson, Keon Sabb, Justin Jefferson and James Smith are all either out or limited this spring, as are punter Alex Asparuhov and long snapper David Bird.

At some positions, the Crimson Tide has answers. Alabama has depth in the defensive backfield in players like Zavier Mincey, Dijon Lee, Ivan Taylor and Cameron Calhoun. But that is not the same across the board.

While Alabama is overflowing with options at wolf linebacker, the middle linebacker spots are sparse without Lawson and Jefferson. Colorado transfer Nikhai Hill-Green and returners Cayden Jones and QB Reese are the only scholarship players that separate the Crimson Tide from true freshmen Luke Metz, Duke Johnson and Abduall Sanders Jr.

The same can be said on the interior of the defensive line. But as spring has continued, praise for players like Edric Hill and Kelby Collins, who is cross-training at both bandit and inside, has lessened the blow of Smith being limited.

Does Alabama have a depth problem?

Alabama can breath a sigh of relief.

Most of its spring injuries come at spots with proven starters or enough experience to project players as significant contributors come fall: left tackle, tight end, defensive tackle, Mike and Will linebacker, safety and cornerback. And because of spring, the Crimson Tide seems to be building much more depth than it would have had if it had a healthy roster.

But the question remains.

While Alabama is focused on position battles at left guard, at quarterback and husky, could the main question out of spring be if the Crimson Tide has enough depth to contend?

In the world of the transfer portal, it’s a question many programs across the country face. And at Alabama, it’s rearing its head especially on the offensive line and at both Will and Mike linebacker.

As the roster stands, Alabama doesn’t seem to have much room for error, something that seems clear to DeBoer as he prepares for a “very careful” A-Day.

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.