New Husky Coaching Staff Puts No Limits on Carson Bruener

The play-making senior linebacker looks like starting material again.

Once the University of Washington football coaching change happened, Carson Bruener went straight to Jedd Fisch's office and introduced himself.

Told the new guy who he was. That he had no intention of entering the transfer portal. Wasn't interested in shopping himself around. Not the least bit motivated in maximizing his take in the game's sudden bonanza of financial riches.

“Everyone talks about it, like, ‘What if I did this, what if I went and got more money?’ I don’t give a s--- about the money, to be honest," Bruener said, referring to name, image and likeness proceeds. "This is my home. This is my team. This is my program. I'm a local kid and this is a family school for me."

It was a wise move on the senior linebacker's part because, in one of the few personnel moves anyone could question previously, it's still unclear if Kalen DeBoer's staff knew exactly what they had in this legacy player, in the son of UW and NFL tight end Mark Bruener.

The DeBoer coaches played the younger Bruener in every game, but started him just one time in their two seasons in Montlake, as an injury fill-in at Oregon State last November. Of course, he came up with a team-best 14 tackles that day and then resumed his previous spot in coming off the bench.

NFL scouts and others in the game privately found this limited use of Bruener a curious situation, especially considering that Bruener had come up with four of the Huskies' five highest tackle totals in his three seasons in the program, piling up anywhere from 14 to 16. Edefuan Ulofoshio matched him with 16 tackles against Michigan in 2021.

The 6-foot-2, 226-pound Bruener did this, too, while playing alongside eventual first-team All-Pac-12 linebackers in Ulofoshio in 2023 and Jackson Sirmon (so honored in 2022 at California) and 2022 All-Pac-12 honorable-mention pick Alphonzo Tuputala.

He did this while the other staff brought in transfer portal linebackers such as Cam Bright from Pittsburgh, Kris Moll from UAB and Ralen Goforth from USC to challenge him for his Husky game time, with Bright drawing a starting job in 2022 instead of him.

Through three spring football practices so far, Bruener and Tuputala have run together as the Huskies' No. 1 linebackers, though the new staff constantly reminds everyone that there is no official depth chart and that these early days are to be treated like a nonstop tryout for everyone.

"They show trust in me already so far," Bruener said. "The one thing they did say is there are no starters, there is no second string, no third string. The depth chart, we're just filling people in and having everyone getting an opportunity to get out there and play and showcase. It's a new staff. It's a new opportunity for everybody to show them what they're about and what they're doing, and that's exactly what I'm trying to do."

As Bruener continues to ingratiate himself with the Fisch staff, he can tell them how he was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week following his first career start in 2021 against Stanford, when he finished with a career-best 16 tackles, a sack and a half, and a forced fumble.

He can point to opposing coaches last season choosing him as an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention pick in spite of him making just that one solitary start against the Beavers. He can remind them how he finished third on the team in tackles with 86 in his reserve role, just eight shy of Ulofoshio and 23 behind the leader in safety Dominique Hampton.

As he prepares for his final UW season, with 39 games played, 6 starts and 202 career tackles, Bruener says the Fisch defense is a little different, that it gives everyone a little more freedom to make plays.

He's also getting adjusted to wearing a new communication system in his helmet, a college football innovation just this year, in which he can hear directives from the coaching staff.

"It's weird," he said. "i'll be walking off the field and it's like somebody whispering."

Defensive coordinator Steve Belichick took the opportunity to pull a prank on him with the new device, just to see if his linebacker was listening. Bruener went out for practice carrying his helmet and he suddenly heard his new coach order him through the airwaves "to put your f----- helmet on!"

The good thing about all of this is it appears the new Husky coaching staff knows exactly who Carson Bruener is, which is starting material, possibly an NFL player in the making and certainly someone devoted to all things UW, and for his sake it won't ignore him for a second.

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