UW Roster Review, No. 2-99: Bralen Trice Returned and Rededicated Himself
Bralen Trice opted out of football last fall for personal reasons and the University of Washington never shared that publicly until coach Jimmy Lake mentioned it in passing following the recent spring game.
While it likely was just an oversight during strange pandemic times, the outside linebacker's absence amounted to this: No one noticed.
That won't be the case from here on out.
Before the 2020 season, Trice was a young guy in need of more size and experience before the Huskies could send him into battle, buried on the depth chart behind players such as Laiatu Latu and Zion Tupuola-Fetui.
Coming out of spring practice, the Phoenix product, who is second from left in the photo, completely flipped his situation. He's 20 pounds heavier, far more savvy and quite possibly the most improved Husky player at any position.
"He's come a long way," Lake told beat reporters. "He could be one of those guys, who you know about, but Husky Nation doesn't know and, all of a sudden, in the first couple of games in the fall, his name could be called out a lot."
Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.
Trice brings all of the intangibles that Tupuola-Fetui, who's out after having surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles heel, demonstrated when he received his big chance to play at outside linebacker last fall and flourished.
Ikaika Malloe, the UW outside linebacker coach, took it a step further with Trice. Indicating he didn't want to put added pressure on him, Malloe but did just that.
"Bralen probably will be better than Joe Tryon," Malloe said, comparing him to the first-round draft pick from the UW. "He's very long, he's athletic and he can drop into space. He can do all those intangibles and he's physical enough. He does want to put his hat and eyes on you. As he progresses, he will take about the same path Joe Tryon did."
Improvement is one thing, but it's up to Trice to beat out the other candidates vying for Tupuola-Fetui's vacant position. This group includes seasoned Texas A&M transfer Jeremiah Martin and a group of precocious redshirt freshmen in Cooper McDonald, Jordan Lolohea and Carson Bruener.
Trice continues to remake himself, even with spring practice over. Within days after the spring game, he requested a number change to match his high school jersey.
While people might not have missed 45, they'll be looking for this new No. 8.
Trice's 2021 Outlook: Projected as a starting candidate
UW Service Time: None
Stats: None
Individual Honors: None
Pro prospects: 2024 NFL high-round draftee
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