Husky Linebacker Corps Came of Age in Win Over USC

A blend of veterans and a newcomer have made this position group work well.

Huskies freshman linebacker Khmori House (28) returns an interception against Northwestern earlier in the season. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

On largely a young team, the University of Washington linebacker corps represented a position area for which Jedd Fisch's staff could count on veteran experienced players to step up when the season began.

The first four were seniors, with three of them spending five or six years with the program under three or four different Husky coaches. Two of them, Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala, became team captains.

Rightly so, Fisch said the linebackers collectively played their best game of the season as a unit in last weekend's 26-21 victory over USC and evidence was everywhere to back up that claim.

Bruener was selected as Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his 12-tackle, 2-interception and 2 pass break-up effort, making him the second UW defender to earn conference accolades in this debut season as a league member.

The other?

It was a linebacker, of course, with Khmori House previously chosen as Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his 3-tackle, 1-interception outing in the Huskies' 24-5 win over Northwestern.

House, of course, had his biggest moment of his young career against USC when he basically saved the game with his fourth-quarter, fourth-down stop at the Husky 1, crashing through to drop Trojans running back Woody Marks for a 3-yard loss to complete a goal-line stand.

"They definitely played good," UW defensive coordinator Steve Belichick said. "They'd been working hard all week. I know coach [Robert] Bala spends a lot of time with those guys and they're really embracing the coaching. i'm happy for those guys."

Yet there is no time to tell each other how good they are. On Saturday night, the Huskies face Penn State -- a noted linebacker school through the years, after offering up players such as Jack Ham, Lavar Arrington and Shane Conlan, among a host of others who have been the college game's best when they played.

While Bruener, with 269 career tackles, has provided the Huskies with a veteran presence inside all season, it's really been the emergence of House that's changed things up in multiple ways at linebacker.

The 6-foot, 214-pound House, who has started four games as a first-year player, has enabled the UW to put Tuputala all over the field, from edge rusher to rover to linebacker, looking for ways to use him best and maybe give him a better chance at becoming an NFL player. Tuputala, a 36-game starter as a Husky defender, has 203 career tackles.

It was no coincidence during House's rise to Husky starter that San Jose State transfer Bryun Parham, a senior with 199 tackles coming in from the Mountain West, left the program after four games to preserve his redshirt status and start all over again with another school next season -- one that doesn't have a player such as House in his way.

Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener readies for another play during the 2023 season. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Behind those three players are sixth-year senior Drew Fowler, Oklahoma transfer Justin Harrington, Arizona transfer and special-teams leader Anthony Ward and redshirt freshman Deven Bryant.

Fowler has appeared in 45 games and has collected 34 career tackles. Harrington came to the Huskies as a safety recovering from knee surgery, but moved to linebacker when Parham left. Ward began his career at the UW and had a punt-block touchdown runback in Tucson, so he has playmaking ability. Bryant, who missed all of spring ball with a foot injury, has played 10 games over two seasons.

It's been a productive unit overall, with its future hopes bolstered by House's progression to starter. The USC game was a crowning moment for everyone across the second row, but they can't congratulate each other and ease up at all. Their defensive coordinator won't permit it.

"Everything they did I want to see going forward and more," Belichick said, sending a message to his linebackers. "It wasn't good enough."

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