Bruener's Injured Shoulder Appears to Be Less of An Issue

The Husky linebacker had to grit his teeth through four Big Ten games before the bye week.

Carson Bruener stares across the line at the Michigan offense. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The last time Carson Bruener sat out a University of Washington football game was on the second weekend of the 2021 season when the Huskies traveled to Michigan and got pummeled 31-10, with Jimmy Lake's coaching staff hardly feeling generous that night in doling out playing time to those not necessarily a big part of the game plan.

The then redshirt freshman linebacker didn't budge from the sideline at the Big House in Ann Arbor as the game quickly got out of hand.

That was 46 outings and four seasons ago.

Ever since then, you can count on Bruener in pulling on his No. 42, adjusting the chin strap on his helmet and running onto the field and looking to hit someone.

Yet over the past month, the now fifth-year senior had every right to say no mas, that he couldn't continue right away, that his personal streak of consecutive games played was over.

He was dealing with an injured shoulder that left him badly hunched over while leaving the Apple Cup against Washington State in mid September in the fourth quarter and he didn't come back at Lumen Field in the 24-19 loss. From the looks of it, some of us in the press box thought he might have suffered season-ending misfortune.

Instead, Bruener has gutted it out and played through great discomfort in four Big Ten games against the likes of Northwestern, Rutgers, Michigan and Iowa. Occasionally, he has been seen bent over in a labored fashion following a collision, yet always summoning the fortitude to continue. Someone else might have said no way and headed to the sideline. This team captain simply gritted his teeth and played on.

As much as anyone, the 6-foot-2, 226-pound Bruener benefitted from the recent bye week, bypassing all contact drills to finally rest his sore and weakened appendage. The results of seven days of inactivity were just what the Husky doctors ordered.

"He told me yesterday he's felt the best he's felt since the injury," UW coach Jedd Fisch said on Monday.

As he heads to Indiana this week with his teammates to face the unbeaten and 13th-ranked Hoosiers, Bruener has become a full-season starter for the first time in his career. He has a team-leading 246 tackles, with 145 of them solo. That's a lot of physical punishment in a game where each collision is likened to being involved in a car accident.

Only defensive tackle Jacob Bandes has appeared in more Husky games in a row than Bruener, coming out for 52 consecutive since the 2019 Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State. The linebacker was in high school back then.

For now, the Huskies will try to squeeze out whatever they can over the next five or six games from Bruener.

UW linebacker Carson Bruener lines up behind Elinneus Davis against Northwestern. / Skylar Lin Visuals

For now, Fisch said his linebacker seems to be moving more freely than before without obvious signs of the injury.

"I could see he's getting to the point the shoulder isn't impacting anything he's doing," the coach said.

Either that, or the gritty and tough-minded Bruener is coping with the pain really well.

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