Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

With a Depleted Lineup, Bruener Held the Husky Defense Together

The linebacker made his first start in two seasons and piled up 14 tackles.
Dan Raley|
With a Depleted Lineup, Bruener Held the Husky Defense Together
With a Depleted Lineup, Bruener Held the Husky Defense Together

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Before the University of Washington-Oregon State game, Carson Bruener briefly met with a Pittsburgh Steelers scout between the locker room and the football field. OK, it was his dad Mark, the former Husky and NFL tight end who offered him some encouragement.

That said, the older Bruener can report back to the front office how his linebacker son that night looked and played like Steelers legend Jack Lambert,  menacing in appearance with his black face paint but sporting a lot more teeth.

On Saturday night in Corvallis, the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Bruener made his first start of the season for the fifth-ranked and unbeaten Huskies (11-0 overall, 8-0 Pac-12) in two seasons as a somewhat surprising replacement for fellow junior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala.

Surprising because Tuputala appeared healthy enough just a few days earlier when he met with the media corps that covers the Huskies to explain what happened on his 76-yard interception return against Utah when he absentmindedly dropped the ball on the 1 for a fumble and failed to score.

Yet Tuputala was out and Bruener was in against the Beavers, and Bruener did what he is prone to do — hit everyone who comes anywhere near him and make amends when the UW has a shortfall.

In the 22-20 victory over Oregon State, Bruener led all tacklers with 14 and stripped the ball loose at the Oregon State 19 from wide receiver Anthony Gould two plays after Husky running back Dillon Johnson was stripped of it at the 5.

In the Utah game, Bruener came up with a safety on the very next play following Tuputala's gaffe to help send the UW on the way to a 35-28 victory.

"I think what's proven with what's helped with our success is how close we are in the locker room," he said. "We're best friends with each other. There's no hatred going on, even from a sixth-year guy to an incoming freshman who's 17 years old. We're all hanging out and we all love each other."

It's interesting he would say that because Bruener might have every reason to feel a little slighted if not under-appreciated at times.

He was a playmaking, five-game starter in 2021, earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors with a 16-tackle, sack-and-a-half game in his first career start against Stanford and returning an interception 50 yards against Oregon, when Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff came in and made him a reserve linebacker.

At rain-soaked Reser Stadium, he was all over the field, knocking down Beavers and knocking the ball out for a UW defense that was severely depleted at times. 

Besides Tuputala missing in action, the Huskies didn't always have the services of fellow linebacker Ralen Gofroth, edge rusher Zion Tuputala-Fetui, defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa, safety Dom Hampton and even cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, the latter admitting to coming out because he "was gassed."

Meantime, Bruener played on without interruption, holding the defense together against Oregon State, making that first start of the season and maybe picking up another conference individual honor for his efforts. 

No doubt he also got high marks in the report that went back to the Steelers front office.

 

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.

Home/Football