Roll the Dice, and It's Trice Back in Montlake or NFL Bound

Bralen Trice didn't play a down for the University of Washington football team during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. From the end of the Chris Petersen coaching era

Bralen Trice didn't play a down for the University of Washington football team during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. From the end of the Chris Petersen coaching era to the beginning of the COVID pandemic, he sat out every game.

The Huskies just might have done their opponents a huge favor by keeping their young, developing edge rusher idle all that time.

The 6-foot-4, 269-pound Trice since has played in 24 games for the UW, starting half of them, and this season turned himself into a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and one of the nation's leading sack artists.

He's easily fulfilled the promise of former edge-rusher coach Ikaika Malloe who insisted at some point Trice would become a better player than Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, the one-time Husky defender turned NFL first-round draft pick and now a Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter.

While the Huskies prepare for the Alamo Bowl and the Texas Longhorns in San Antonio, Trice carries the added responsibility of determining his future — choosing whether to terrorize the college game for another season or become an NFL draft pick.

As with all of the other undergrads on the UW roster straddling the pro football fence, prolific quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has complicated things for them by announcing his return for the 2023 season and making everyone else think about it, too. 

"It's a big factor, for sure," Trice said of Penix. "He's definitely a big part of it, just like a lot of key guys on our team. That definitely will be a factor in my decision."

Sophomore Bralen Trice finished fourth in the conference this season, with 8 sacks among his 33 tackles, 11 of which went for tackles for lost yardage, while being rewarded with a first-team All-Pac-12 selection :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

SACK MASTER :: Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports

Bralen Trice earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 5-tackle, 2.5-TFL, 2-sack performance in a 28-21 victory over California in Berkeley.

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BOOKEND BRUISERS / Skylar Lin Visuals

Nothing is more frightening for an opposing quarterback than Husky edge rushers Bralen Trice and Jeremiah Martin racing to see who can get to him first. 

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CHECKING FOR DAMAGES / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jeremiah Martin hovers over Portland State quarterback Dante Chachere after Husky teammate Bralen Trice knocked the guy down in the UW's 52-6 victory.

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PULVERIZING PORTLAND STATE :: Stephen Brashears/USA TODAY Sports

Bralen Trice came up with 4 tackles, including 2.5 TFLs and 1.5 sacks, with his overly disruptive outing against Portland State in early September. 

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CARDINAL SIN :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Edge rusher Bralen Trice was a problem for Stanford all game long at Husky Stadium, coming up with 5 tackles, 3 TFLs and 2 sacks in the UW's 40-22 win.

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LIVING ON THE EDGE / Skylar Lin Visuals

Edge rushers Jeremiah Martin (3) and Bralen Trice (8) chat during Husky spring practice while Pittsburgh transfer Cam Bright takes it all in. 

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SPRING TRAINING / Skylar Lin Visuals

One of Bralen Trice's strongest attributes is his ability to come off the line with exceptional speed and power, which he hones here during UW spring practice. 

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DOUBLE TROUBLE :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

In 2021, Bralen Trice came off the bench to collect his first two career sacks against Arizona State's Jayden Daniels in a 35-30 loss at Husky Stadium. 

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APPLE SAUCE :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Bralen Trice wraps up a Washington State opponent in the 2021 Apple Cup. providing one of the few upbeat moments in the 40-13 loss to the Cougars.

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Trice entered this season with fellow edge rushers Jeremiah Martin and Zion Tupuola-Fetui collectively holding up a modest six starts and four sacks from the season before while each played limited roles because of injury or inexperience.

Admittedly, new UW coach Kalen DeBoer didn't know what he had initially with these guys and was in for a pleasant surprise. 

Trice and Martin recently became first-team, all-conference selections and even ZTF, an All-Pac-12 choice in 2020 after piling up seven sacks in just four games, drew honorable-mention accolades while coming off the bench.

Trice expected nothing less from himself and his fellow edge rushers now that it was their turn to shine. All that was really needed was for someone to unleash them and they did the rest.

"I knew it was going to happen like this, especially with the guys in my room," he said. "We never really had too much eyes on our room except when ZTF was balling out. We kind of blew up this year."

Trice and the others now only half joke that the Husky program has turned into Edge U, rather than answering to its previous calling card of DBU, following the coaching change and the emergence of so many guys coming off the corners and becoming effective playmakers.

Martin will use up his eligibility in Texas, but Trice and ZTF could choose to return, keep the pressure on opposing backfields and maintain this newfound edge-rushing reputation they've established.

"It's deserved because I know how hard we work, the athleticism and the grind we go through and what we've got on our table," Trice said. "I knew it was going to happen."

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