Trice Turned In His Most Powerful Play at Oregon, Which He Reluctantly Concedes
Pick out a top play at Oregon and the University of Washington football team offered endless candidates. Michael Penix Jr. supplied the opposite hashmark throw, Jalen McMillan the simultaneous catch, Peyton Henry the redemptive kick, Ja'Lynn Polk the long home-run ball, Taj Davis the shorter home-run ball, Alex Cook the hurtful hit on Bo Nix and Edefuan Ulofoshio, with his looming presence, the fourth-down slip.
So many clutch performances, so many tempting selections to choose from in the Huskies' 37-34 victory.
Still another was the understated yet dominant moment provided by Husky edge rusher Bralen Trice near the end of the first quarter in Eugene.
On a third-and-13 situation at the UW 25, the 6-foot-4, 269-pound sophomore from Phoenix rose up from his stance, easily shed the first blocker who got in his way, tight end Cam McCormick, plowed right over the top of highly regarded left tackle T.J. Bass, knocking him backward, and wrapped his arms around quarterback Bo Nix, who hurriedly got rid of the ball, and dropped him hard on his back.
For sheer power and being a weapon of mass destruction, Trice was at his very best on that play.
Bass comes from Deming, Washington, which is in the shadows of Mount Baker, and has heady credentials as a first-team All-Pac-12 selection the season before and currently an Outland Trophy watch-list candidate. Nix hadn't been hit all year and has been mentioned as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
The unassuming Trice just went about his business of totally disrupting things, or as in the prophetic words of former UW edge-rusher coach Ikaika Malloe, someday becoming "better than Joe Tryon."
Trice is the Huskies' best defensive bet for earning a first-team, All-Pac-12 selection this season, currently ranking third in the conference with 7 sacks. He also might be a tough sell to return to the UW for his junior season and not head directly to the NFL draft.
At Oregon, Trice played the man across from him like a Bass fiddle. He helped rein in the elusive Nix, who left the game so beat up he's questionable to play his next game against Utah.
For Trice, he didn't register a sack this time, but it might have been his most defining play of the season.
"I guess so," the modest Trice reluctantly confirmed. "I kind of came into the game mentally ready and physically ready to do what I've got to do and play my hardest. And I think it just showed in a situation like that."
He's had a breakthrough Husky season, first relegating the highly accomplished and still very skilled Zion Tupuola-Fetui to a backup role if not a job share. Trice has started eight games, ZTF two.
Trice has 28 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and those 7 sacks; ZTF has 20 tackles, 4.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks. Do the math for that one position and it's a lot of football mayhem: 48 tackles, 14.5 TFLs, 10.5 sacks.
As for surpassing the talent level of the now christened Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, the former Husky who became a first-round draft pick and a starter for the Tampa Bay Bucs, Trice always turns a little shy when he hears that high praise mentioned to him.
Maybe Oregon's Bass, who he tossed around like a bean bag, should have handed Trice that compliment to make him blush and stammer, and try to slow him down some. Nothing else worked.
"When I heard that the first time, I didn't want to take that too much to the head," Trice said of Malloe's rather brazen compliment. "[It's] stay humble, keep playing how I play and be myself."
Which, as Oregon and others will tell you, is a considerable handful.
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