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Carson Bruener has started just one game over the past 28 outings at linebacker for the University of Washington football team, but people have never lost sight of him.
Last season, the conference coaches voted Bruener as an All-Pac-12 honorable-mention selection even while he opened only the Oregon State game in Corvallis as an injury fill-in for Alphonzo Tuputala and otherwise played steady minutes as a reserve.
This weekend, the senior legacy player from Woodinville, Washington -- the son of former UW and NFL tight end Mark Bruener -- was singled out as the nation's 30th best linebacker on a list compiled by Big Game Boomer, which sounds more like a nickname Bruener should adopt.
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound Bruener, who has 202 career tackles in 39 Husky games, finds himself in the Big Ten, a linebacker conference, to finish up his time in Montlake.
By ranking No. 30 nationally, he's considered the ninth-best linebacker in his new his new league, standing in line behind Iowa's Jay Higgins (5), Oregon's Jeffrey Bassa (8), Michigan's Jaishawn (11), USC's Easton Arnold-Mascarenas (13), Iowa's Nick Jackson (18), Rutgers' Tyreem Powell (23), Northwestern's Xander Mueller (26) and Maryland's Ruben Hyppolite II (29).
Top 50 Linebackers Entering The 2024 Season pic.twitter.com/6WreEr0j7O
— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) July 7, 2024
Outside of new Husky running back and former Arizona rusher Jonah Coleman turning up on various top transfer lists, Bruener is the first UW player to receive any individual attention of really any kind heading into the coming season.
"I would say Carson Bruener has done a great of leading the pack," new UW coach Jedd Fisch said during spring football. "I think his leadership is clear. He's a good athlete who makes a lot of plays. He's physical."
The general outside consensus seems to be the Huskies, with just two starters returning, are bereft of the high-level talent that so clearly filled their roster in 2023 on the way to the CFP national championship game.
Bruener, however, runs counter to that argument and likely he has a number of teammates who will step up and show people there's plenty of football talent in Montlake.
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Shaquille O'Neal makes peace with longtime enemy — mostly
Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard patched things up Sunday after years of feuding. But even while describing their rapprochement, O'Neal couldn't keep from teasing his longtime nemesis. The "Big Aristotle" was at the BIG3 playoffs Sunday to watch Howard's L.A. Riot play the Chicago Triplets. In the middle of describing to Rachel Nichols how he and Howard had made peace, O'Neal broke off his explanation to make fun of Howard for missing a dunk. The two Hall of Fame centers had sparred for years, despite their common ground as former members of the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers. Some of the tension seemed to be due to Howard adopting O'Neal's "Superman" nickname, though O'Neal claimed to Nichols that he was simply being tough on Howard to motivate him. That explanation doesn't account for the time O'Neal mocked Howard for playing basketball in the Taiwanese league or the decade-plus he's spent roasting Howard on his podcast, in public appearances and on "Inside the NBA." Still, it appears that the two have made peace. Despite O'Neal being left off the original list of presenters, he insisted that he'll be among a group of Hall of Famers inducting Howard Sept. 6, including Dominique Wilkins, Robert Parish, Dennis Rodman and Patrick Ewing. It means that two of the most dominant big men of their eras have finally buried the hatchet. It's added a new level of interest to the Hall of Fame ceremonies, and it should be a sweet moment between O'Neal and Howard. As long as Howard doesn't mention Superman.
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