Bruener, Henry Singled Out as Pac-12 Players of the Week

For eight weeks, the Pac-12 singled out football players across the conference and honored them for their superlative play. Six categories and 48 award-winners.

Not one University of Washington recipient. A slow team start will do that to you.

Yet following their 20-13 victory at Stanford, the Huskies more than made up for lost ground on Monday by claiming three of the six weekly rewards — inside linebacker Carson Bruener became the first to receive both defensive and freshman player of the week honors at the same time while placekicker Peyton Henry was highlighted as the special-teams player of the week.

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Bruener, a second-year freshman from Redmond, Washington, made it difficult for the league not to choose him somewhere after he came up with 16 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble, in his initial UW start.

He became the first Husky player to claim Pac-12 defensive honors since the player he replaced in the lineup, the injured Edefuan Ulofoshio, was recognized late in the 2019 season for his efforts as a walk-on reserve against Oregon State. 

Bruener was the first UW freshman of the week honoree since quarterback Dylan Morris received the recognition twice last season. 

Henry, a junior from Danville, California, was singled out after he kicked field goals of 24, 37, 35 and 32 against Stanford to give the UW a 12-3 lead over Stanford. He's now 9 for 11 on three-pointers this season.

He's also the first Husky to earn weekly conference special-teams honors since punt returner Dante Pettis did it three times in 2017, and the first UW kicker so saluted since Travis Coons in 2013.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky Maven stories as soon as they’re published.