Inside The Huskies

Carson Bruener Will Match Father by Playing in East-West Shrine Bowl

His postseason appearance comes exactly 30 years after Mark Bruener took part.
Dan Raley|
Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener returns an interception against USC, wide receiver JaKobi Lane trying to tackle him.
Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener returns an interception against USC, wide receiver JaKobi Lane trying to tackle him. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Carson Bruener, the University of Washington's most decorated football player this past season, will close out his college career on Thursday in the 100th East-West Shrine Bowl, with the linebacker returning to Texas yet one more time at Arlington Stadium.

Over 25 months, the 6-foot-2, 226-pound Bruener will have played in San Antonio (Alamo Bowl), Houston (CFP national championship), El Paso (Sun Bowl) and now in the Dallas suburbs, in the home of the Cowboys, in an all-star game that means something to his family.

Exactly 30 years ago, Bruener's father, Mark, was a Husky tight end who played in the East-West Shrine Bowl when it was held at Stanford before he became a first-round NFL draft pick and the 27th overall selection for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Brueners will become the UW's only father-son connection to appear in this storied event, which is observing its 100th year.

To pursue his own pro career, Bruener will lean on his father, a Pittsburgh Steelers scout who played in the NFL for 14 years, for plenty of guidance.

"My dad has been a huge help for me, in just kind of getting feedback from him," Carson Bruener said before the Sun Bowl. "He went through the process. He's been around the sport for awhile. He knows a lot of agents."

The younger Bruener comes off a game-high 11-tackle performance at the Sun Bowl, where the Huskies lost 35-34 to Louisville.

That gave him 306 tackles for his UW career, one in which he played in 52 games and started 19, including all 13 this past season. He also finished with 14 pass break-ups, 5 interceptions and 4 forced fumbles.

Following the regular season, Bruener twice was chosen as a third-team All-Big Ten selection, by the coaches and media, this after receiving All-Pac-12 honorable-mention honors the year before.

This marks the second all-star game involving UW players. On Jan. 11, the 79th Hula Bowl was held in Orlando, Florida, and four of Bruener's teammates took part in tight end Keleki Latu, quarterback Will Rogers, safety Kam Fabiculanan and defensive tackle Sebastian Valdez. No game stats were compiled.

Thursday's East-West Shrine Bowl will kick off in Texas at 5 p.m. PT, with the NFL Network televising the action.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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