The general thought was that Redmond High School linebacker, Carson Bruener would be in line for an offer at the Rising Stars camp, but lo and behold, he can’t make it this weekend. So he got on the UW campus earlier, and yes, that offer came.
“It’s awesome”, the son of former Husky and NFL tight end, Mark Bruener told Realdawg.com today, “To be honest, I was actually kind of shocked.”
Bruener’s father, who played for the Huskies from 1991-1994, is also a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played for the Steelers after being drafted out of college, and spent eight years with the organization. Now he goes around and gives presentations to college coaches. Bruener is the West Cost scout for Pittsburgh, and so he is able to now live in the Puget Sound area.
“I can’t go to camp”, he said, “We’re doing our team (basketball) camp at EWU.”
So the plan was put in place to get Carson on campus prior to the weekend.
Bruener, who is 6-2 and “205 on a good day”, had to miss two games during last season due to the fact that he had a couple of stingers and needed to give the nerves a rest, but he still put up tackling numbers for the Mustangs that placed high in the conference.
He was fifth in the league for total tackles, second in the league for tackles-per-game, and first in the league in tackles-for-loss.
“I think a lot of is my speed”, Bruener said of his game, “I also feel that I have a high football I.Q..”
He posted a 4.59 at a recent combine and, let’s face it, he’s had some great tutelage throughout his life from his father, “That comes from my dad — he talks to me a lot about how he evaluates”, Carson said, “I grew up watching him when he played for the Steelers and the Houston Texans. I had a great teacher.”
The Huskies (and most recruiters) like Bruener at WIL, where he has the sideline-to-sideline speed and ability to move in space. He’s tough, he has an exceptional work ethic, and he has the frame to add more muscle and fill out at the next level.
Carson was born in Pittsburgh and then the family moved to Houston to follow his father’s career, and finally settled back in the Pacific Northwest in Redmond. Mark was from Aberdeen, and the whole family bleeds purple and gold.
He also said his father is very excited about the offer, as well as his mother, “Half my family went to Washington…My Gramma sent me a text and it said ‘go dawgs'”, Carson laughed, “She said ‘you have to keep the legacy going — don’t blow it!””
No pressure…
“If I knew right now where I wanted to go I would tell you”, Carson again mused, “I had started narrowing things down and was going to have a top five — but now that Washington has offered, it changes everything.”
