What's Happening to Trice is Unfair, But No One's Complaining

UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell prefers to take the high road when addressing possible holding.

TUCSON, Arizona — Bralen Trice finds himself about 100 miles from his family residence this weekend, which might as well be the distance between the elite University of Washington edge rusher and opposing quarterbacks this season.

That's no slam on the Phoenix native, just the cold, hard and seemingly unfair facts.

Through four games, the 6-foot-4, 274-pound Trice has zero sacks as enemy teams have grabbed onto him, hugged him and pretty much got away with pass-rushing murder.

Earlier in the week, a media member strongly insinuated as much to Husky co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell, suggesting that the interaction between Trice and multiple opponents hasn't been anything near a fair fight because of rampant holding.

Morrell's immediate reaction to the potential infraction most often not called?

"Heh, heh, heh," the coach responded, before adding, "I'll leave that on coach DeBoer."

Morrell, however, proceeded to address the nature of what Trice is dealing with as a marked man for being a 2022 All-Pac-12 selection, Alamo Bowl Defensive Player of the Game and a preseason Associate Press All-America choice.

Trice finished with 9 sacks last season and because of his high-level proficiency four teams so far collectively have done everything they can to prevent him from getting his first one this fall.

Bralen Trice zeroes in on the Tulsa quarterback.  / Skylar Lin Visuals

He has 9 tackles, including a tackle for loss, but no quarterback manhandling stats as of yet.

"It's one of those things, it's tough, he is, he is getting, he strains at an elite level," Morrell said, choosing his words carefully in discussing the questionable means used against Trice. "It's tough sometimes. It's the game of football, though. You have to go to the next play no matter what we feel about what they're, quote unquote, doing to him."

While Trice might be shy of sack numbers, his pass-rush impact remains at a very high level, his coach said.

"I think that's the great thing about Bralen is just a relentless attitude," Morrell said. "And if you see him line up at play one or line up at play 30, it's the same guy coming at you every single time. We're just encouraging him to continue to be relentless because he's having a major, major impact."

Following all of this discussion, the media guy still wasn't totally satisfied with what he had heard and pressed the Husky coordinator once more about the potential holding involving Trice.

However, Morrell still wasn't budging from his previous restrained explanation of what was going on out there with his edge rusher. 

"I'll pass, man," the coach said, drawing laughs. "I'll pass."

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