Tyler Booker is Alabama football’s top offensive lineman heading into the 2024 season. The junior guard is the natural leader in the room, having learned from the lineage of Crimson Tide blockers through the years, most recently JC Latham.

So his word carries weight when he mentions which players have impressed him early in camp. When asked after Alabama’s Saturday practice, he pointed first to Washington transfer center Parker Brailsford.

“Definitely Parker,” Booker said. “Parker makes my lob a lot easier at guard. Hitting hip on some blocks, giving the right calls, Parker’s great, so just to be able to play next to him is a real blessing.”

For a moment, Brailsford’s position with the Crimson Tide appeared tenuous. He followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington when his coach replaced Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa.

Then he missed spring football. Brailsford didn’t participate in the practices, instead working with Alabama’s strength staff while working through unspecified personal issues.

Transfer speculation ran rampant. But from spring to fall, DeBoer made clear Brailsford’s intent to return, and when the Tide took the field to start practice on Wednesday, the center was there, working with the first-team offensive line.

As the lone member of Washington’s 2023 offensive line, which won the Joe Moore Award, to make the transition to Tuscaloosa, Brailsford has proven valuable throughout the transition to DeBoer.

“He knows the offense, so there’s a lot of people looking to him to come up with a solution on where it all starts,” DeBoer said. “He’s pointing out the linebacker that they’re blocking to, or the protection that’s going to be set. He’s confident that way, and those guys feel that.”

Offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic also noted how helpful Brailsford has been for him, after DeBoer’s first offensive line coach, Scott Huff, left for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Kapilovic then left Baylor to join the Tide.

“It’s always really good to have somebody who has that experience in their offense that’s ours now,” Kapilovic said.

Brailsford is improving too. According to DeBoer, he’s developed a mutually beneficial relationship with Booker.

“It’s really cool seeing a guy like Book who just eats, sleeps and breathes this program and wants nothing but for it to be great,” DeBoer said. “And him just rubbing off as Parker shows him and helps him, he helps him back. It’s fun seeing the pride that that unit is developing. Just walking into here just now and walking by them and some extra things that they’re doing, player-led, just because they don’t want to just get it right, they want to be great at it.”

Alabama continues preseason camp on Tuesday. The Crimson Tide opens the season Aug. 31 against Western Kentucky.