Inside The Huskies

Huskies' Prysock Joins Bruener With National Exposure

The new cornerback from Arizona has been pegged to have a big season.

Dan Raley

Ephesians Prysock has made sure to introduce himself around at the UW.
Ephesians Prysock has made sure to introduce himself around at the UW. / Skylar Lin Visuals

In sizing up the University of Washington football team, as everyone knows, the Huskies have just two starters returning from their national runner-up team.

A cornerback and a linebacker.

This week, two UW players have been grouped among the best players nationally at their respective positions.

A cornerback and a linebacker.

They are not the same players.

On Monday, the website heavy on compiling college football sporting lists, Big Game Boomer, singled out the UW's Ephesians Prysock as the 40th best corner in the country, this coming a day after it ranked Carson Bruener as the 30th best linebacker by the same outfit.

Just when it seemed the Huskies might get shut out in outside attention entering the season, the UW now has two receiving accolades. Image-wise in Montlake, that would be progress.

Prysock was a 13-game starter last season who came to the UW from Arizona with coach Jedd Fisch, who is the defensive back's biggest supporter.

The first-year Husky leader likes to tell how his cornerback became injured in last December's Alamo Bowl game against Oklahoma and simply refused to give in to the pain and discomfort. Prysock broke a bone in his hand or a finger, came out to have the fracture put in a splint, suffered a dislocation one play after returning, had the wounded appendage wrapped in a protective club and finished up the 38-24 victory over the Sooners.

"He's tough, he's physical, he's 6-foot-3 (sic)," Fisch said. "He's an NFL corner. Our job is to get him to meet his dreams."

The returning Husky starters are junior cornerback Elijah Jackson and senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala, players seemingly who could turn up on a few lists of their own. They've been through a lot, with Jackson saving the Sugar Bowl with a last-play pass deflection against Texas and Tuputala going 76 yards with an interception return against Utah before inadvertently dropping the ball on the 1and not getting the touchdown.

The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Prysock was a redshirt freshman for Arizona who was played in the Huskies' 31-24 victory in Tucson last season, on opposite sides from Jackson, before coming to Seattle with Fisch. Prysock replaces the UW corner starter who teamed with Jackson, Jabbar Muhammed, now at Oregon, who shows up No. 11 on the Big Game Boomer list.

Bruener, a 6-foot-2, 226-pound senior, backed up Tuputala for the past two seasons.

It appears people are realizing there is more to these Huskies than meets the eye that is focused solely on returning starters.

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

Published
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.

Home/Football