Carson Bruener Has a Big Opportunity as a Back-Up

Carson Bruener has had a bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of playing time as he enters his fourth season in a Washington jersey. While he probably won't be listed as a starter on the depth chart heading into 2023, he's used to that.

After playing in 11 games in 2021, starting five of them, he didn't receive a single start on defense in 2022. He still played an important role for the Huskies though, as he excelled on special teams and still recorded 45 tackles on the year, the fifth-highest mark on the team.

Preparing to lead the back-up defense, Bruener is going to have to play a different role than he has in previous years. Alongside USC transfer Ralen Goforth, he's going to be asked to use his speed and pass coverage skills more than ever before.

Goforth is known mainly as a downhill thumper and strong-side linebacker, who is excellent in run support and can cover short areas well. That makes him a useful chess piece but it also expands Bruener's responsibilities by turning him into a garbage man of sorts, requiring him to clean up any missed tackles in run support and playing a lot of pass coverage.

The coaching staff will presumably work out a lot of the minutia of the defense during fall camp, but Bruener won't be alone in the middle of the field. Since co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell likes to play a lot of man coverage on the outside, safety Dominique Hampton will probably find himself coming down to help in the box, giving the Huskies a lot of speed in the middle of the field.

Bruener has proven over his time at Washington to be a reliable player whenever he's called upon and in a year when the Huskies are somewhat thin on scholarship linebackers, he's going to be more important than ever before.

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