Here's Why Trice, With No Sacks, Isn't Having a Lackluster Season
Bralen Trice doesn't have a sack in three University of Washington football games, which seems kind of odd because his ability to get to the quarterback is widely revered by NFL scouts and those who choose the various All-America teams.
It's now 12 quarters and counting for the Husky edge rusher without throwing someone down hard, putting him on his back and making the other guy regret he ever heard the name Bralen Trice.
Looking at the numbers, some might suggest the UW defensive stalwart, unlike his unbeaten team, is off to a slow start.
Husky co-defensive coordinator William Inge is not one of them. An engaging personality, the veteran coach, himself once a fierce Iowa pass rusher, begins to shift in his chair and raise his voice another octave level as he addresses this peculiar but fully explainable situation involving the preseason AP All-America selection and possible first-round draft pick.
"Everyone knows who he is, everyone knows where he is and you'll see offenses have to change everything in order to keep him from getting his production," Inge said. "What they're doing, is he's not getting his production, but because they're changing everything, everyone else on the defense as a whole is getting their production. We're seeing a great team defense performance."
Bralen Trice casts a menacing figure coming off the edge for the Huskies.
Skylar Lin Visuals
What that translates to is the Boise States, Tulsas and Michigan States of the college football world have been throwing everything but a stadium sink at Trice and devoting as many resources as possible to protect their precious quarterbacks from getting manhandled by him. Double-teams are a given. He's still making everyone nervous.
"The one thing you see about B.T. is he's going to be aggressive, active and attacking 24/7 when he's on the football field," Inge said. "In most football terms, you say his motor runs hot. It does. It runs hot and it runs often. He's been able to disrupt so many plays in the run game [and] also being able to disrupt plays in the pass game."
A year ago, Trice finished third in the Pac-12 with 9 sacks yet he went through an even longer spell in the middle of that season without adding to his season tally.
The 6-foot-4, 274-pound junior from Phoenix played 16 consecutive quarters, including three full games — Arizona State and Arizona from his home state among them — without registering one of these reputation-building defensive calling cards.
Inge will tell you that, sacks or no sacks, Trice is having an exemplary season so far for his 3-0 Huskies. He has 8 tackles, including a tackle for loss, and a pair of quarterback hurries.
Trice still doesn't have a sack just yet, with his last one coming against Quinn Ewers in the closing seconds of the Alamo Bowl last December to wrap up a 27-20 victory over Texas.
If past history means anything, Trice did pick up a a pair against California last year in the UW's 28-21 win in Berkeley, so the Bears could be an ice-breaker for him. Either way, he plays on, unbothered by numbers.
"He's such a good team player, that's exactly what kind of young man you want on your team — he's not going to get frustrated," Inge said of his defense leader. "He knows that he's not going to need to press to get, quote unquote, his stats."
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.
