Inside The Huskies

Bruener's Big Night Leads to Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Honors

The senior linebacker had two interceptions, with the second changing game momentum.

Dan Raley

UW linebacker Carson Bruener lets out his emotions in the CFP title game.
UW linebacker Carson Bruener lets out his emotions in the CFP title game. / Thomas Shea/USA TODAY Sports

Carson Bruener became that rare player to be named Defensive Player of the Week in two conferences after the University of Washington linebacker was selected on Monday as the Big Ten's top defender for his dazzling weekend performance in the Huskies' 26-21 victory over USC.

This past Saturday, the 6-foot-2, 226-pound senior from Woodinville, Washington, emerged with a game-high 12 tackles, two interceptions and a pair of pass break-ups against the Trojans.

In 2021, after making his first college start against Stanford, Bruener received Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors for coming up with a game-high 16 tackles, a sack and a half, and a forced fumble in a 20-13 win in Palo Alto.

Bruener, in effect, has showed he can go coast to coast as a college football player.

Against USC, Bruener intercepted a Miller Moss pass on his first defensive play of the game, catching a ball that deflected off tight end Lake McRee's hands and into his. He returned it 15 yards and set up his team on the UW 45, with the turnover leading to Grady Gross' 39-yard field goal and a 3-0 Husky lead.

With his team trailing for the first time at 21-20 and having just punted the ball back to the Trojans, Bruener made a leaping interception in third quarter and ran it back 16 yards to the UW 39.

The play was responsible for shifting the game momentum back to the Huskies after they had squandered a 20-7 lead coming out of halftime.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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.

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