Bruener Draws Only Husky Invite to Scouting Combine

Yet only Bruener, who finished his career with 306 tackles while starting 19 of 52 games, including all 13 this past season, will have the scouts' eyes on him in this pre-draft get-together.

He's the son of Pittsburgh Steelers scout and former UW and NFL tight end Mark Bruener, who has been advising him on his next steps.

With the exception of a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the Apple Cup against Washington State, this younger Bruener turned in a relatively injury-free career for the Huskies, which should give him high marks with attentive NFL teams, especially considering how physical he plays.

As he moves forward toward a possible NFL career, Bruener no doubt will be asked about the sometimes confusing path of Husky career.

As a redshirt freshman in 2021, he became a starter at midseason when Edefuan Ulofoshio was lost for the season with an arm injury,. In his first game-opening assignment against Stanford, he proceeded to turn in a 16-tackle, 1.5-sack effort and was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.

He later had 14 tackles against Arizona State and a 50-yard interception return in which he nearly scored against Oregon.

DeBoer's staff came in and preferred to use him as a reserve linebacker in 2022 and 2023. In the latter season, those coaches started him just once for an injured Tuputala at Oregon State. and he came up with 14 tackles. The following week, he was back to being a sub again and had 14 tackles against WSU. Even with just that one start, the league coached voted him All-Pac-12 honorable mention.

This past season, Bruener started all 13 games for Fisch's coaches, was selected as a team captain and earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors, as well as the all-conference stuff that came later.

At the combine, the NFL scouts likely will take note that this linebacker seems to adjust well to his surroundings but is best used as a starter.