Bruener Couldn't Start Much Last Season, But He's on Butkus Watch List

The UW linebacker is one of 52 up for top linebacker accolade.

Carson Bruener pulls down Michigan tight end Colston Loveland in the CFP championship game. / Thomas Shea/USA TODAY Sports

Last season, Carson Bruener was a reserve linebacker for the University of Washington football team, coming off the bench in 14 of 15 games, starting only when teammate Alphonzo Tuputala was injured and couldn't go against Oregon State.

No one seems to remember that, let alone believe it, that Bruener was not a first-teamer all season long hitting people in the mouth right from the first whistle.

This week, the 6-foot-2, 226-pound Bruener was one of 52 college football linebackers nationwide who were named to the watch list for the Dick Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's most outstanding player at that position.

He might be the only sub included among these elite players singled out as the best on the defensive second row.

All Bruener has ever done is shrug at his unconventional career path in which he became a five-game starter as an injury fill-in for Edefuan Ulofoshio in 2021 and piled up 16 tackles and a sack and a half in his first game-opening outing against Stanford and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. He has four career games of 14 tackles or more.

Over the past two seasons, Kalen DeBoer's staff chose to use Bruener as a back-up linebacker and he still was able to impress opposing coaches to the point they voted him All-Pac-12 honorable mention last November, again maybe the only player to go that route.

One reason is the Husky linebacker talent has been highly accomplished with the players ahead of him in Cam Bright, Tuputala and Ulofoshio each receiving either All-Pac-12 first-team or honorable-mention accolades while in Montlake.

Heading into his senior UW season, Bruener seems to be making up for any perceived slights in regard to his team stature.

New coach Jedd Fisch has made him a full-fledged starter alongside Tuputala and taken him to Big Ten Media Days as one of the Huskies' handful of spokesmen, and no one should be surprised if he becomes a team captain, a highly decorated player and, similar to his father Mark Bruener, an NFL draft pick.

Carson Bruener has taken a lead position at Husky linebacker. / Skylar Lin Visuals

As for Butkus, the former University of Illinois All-American and later a Chicago Bears legend is 80 years old now, likely more than a little arthritic after being involved in so many violent football collisions. He's 60 years removed from playing against the Huskies in the 1964 Rose Bowl and leading the Illini to a 17-7 victory.

Should Bruener have a showcase season, he would get to meet Butkus and shake the hand, probably gingerly, of a fellow Big Ten linebacker.

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