Deven Bryant Gets His Shot to Start for the Huskies

In restocking its linebacker corps, after losing five veteran players to the NFL, transfer portal and expired eligibility, the University of Washington football team has lined up a number of replacements who resemble each other.

In another time, their names would be Mike Singletary, Mike Singletary and Mike Singletary.

In other words, each of these guys is a compact, hard-hitting and high-intensity player who mirrors a memorable linebacker who played long ago for the Baylor Bears and Chicago Bears.

Singletary, who twice was NFL Defensive Player of the Year and a seven-time Pro Bowler, was such a defensive presence he had piercing eyes that could burn a hole through an opposing player and steam coming out of his helmet as if it was a smokestack.

He stood a rock-solid 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds, a size that has served as a blueprint for these latest Huskies linebackers.

The UW currently is using 6-foot, 232-pound Washington State transfer Taariq "Buddah" Al-Uqdah and 5-foot-11, 234-pound holdover player Deven Bryant as starters while nursing 5-foot-11, 225-pound Arizona transfer Jacob Manu back to good health from a knee injury.

Singletarys, one and all.

Bryant fits this bill as much as anyone after moving up the ranks first in spring football and he now runs with the No. 1 defense in his third UW season.

He's waited his turn, dealt with a foot injury that set him back some last year and has gained the trust of Jedd Fisch's coaching staff.

While his fellow St. John Bosco High School and UW linebacker Khmori House felt the need to leave after he burst on to the scene in 2024, Bryant has stayed the course in Montlake.

"I felt there was something here that was speical and I felt I had an opportunity here that I couldn't pass up," he said last week.

Deven Bryant made his college debut in the 2023 season opener against Boise State. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Bryant was injured when Fisch's staff took over last year and he got buried on the depth chart and was unable to properly audition for meaningful snaps on Saturday. He still appeared in eight games, mostly as a special-teamer.

"Sometimes it got dark and I couldn't see the light, but I kept the faith and kept pushing knowing I could get to this point," he said.

Opportunity presented itself when Bryant became healthy and linebackers coach Brian Odom was hired by the Huskies.

Odom had tried to recruit the Los Angeles-area linebacker to USC so they knew each other. No introductions were necessary. Odom calls Bryant highly instinctive while running around.

Deven Bryant is a starting candidate at UW linebacker. | Dan Raley

Since coming to Washington, Bryant previoiusly played with linebackers Edefuan Ulofoshio, Carson Bruener, Alphonzo Tuputala, Drew Fowler, Brien Parham, Anthony Ward and House, and took a little something from each of them.

Team leaders such as Bruener and Tuputala looked after him and encouraged him, and he watched how they got the job done.

"I saw the opportunity to go out there and show what I could do as a hustling Deven Bryant," he said.

If he's really good at this, he just might conjure up visions of that shorter, relentless and legendary Mike Singletary, too.

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