BOULDER, Colo. — Cody Bruns took the pass and saw the end zone ahead of him. He had been so close before and came up just short. So with a Colorado defender chasing him from behind, Bruns took no chance and made a diving leap for the corner of the end zone.
And for the first time in his Husky career, Bruns had scored a touchdown.
“I wanted to make sure I got in,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from getting in. It feels great.”
With only two games remaining in his college career, Bruns was running out of time to get a touchdown. But it wasn’t something he was worried about.
“You have to be optimistic,” he said. “You always want to score, but you have to do what you can just to help the team.”
Bruns actually threw a touchdown pass as a true freshman in 2008. On a quarterback throwback play, he hit Ronnie Fouch for a score against Arizona State.
“It’s funny how that works,” he said.
A fifth-year senior, who redshirted last year after dealing with the death of his father, Bruns is one of the more popular players on the team. They respect his work ethic, his perseverance and his commitment to the program.
“I couldn’t be happier for him,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He is an awesome kid.”
There were four other touchdown catches in the Huskies’ 39-3 win over the Buffaloes, but none of the other catches were met with quite the sideline celebration as Bruns’ 7-yard scoring grab.
“Everyone was celebrating with him, it was something special,” said tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. “He’s one of the toughest, most persevering people I’ve ever known. He’s had a lot of things happen to him during his career at UW. When things didn’t always look up for him, he still stuck with it. He’s always worked very hard and remained committed himself and to the team.”
Last season, when he was redshirting, he was named the scout team offensive player of the year.
In typical Bruns fashion, he credited Price, the offensive line and Sarkisian for getting him the play.
“He came up and thanked me afterwards,” Price said. “That guy has been through so much, I’m really proud of him. I’m really happy for him. He definitely deserved it.”
Bruns finished the game with three catches for 33 yards.
“It feels good to be contributing,” he said.
A record-setting receiver at Prosser, Bruns has battled injuries and never been a consistent contributor.
“With two games left now, it hits you,” he said. “You have to take every opportunity for what it’s worth.”
A two-way player
After playing a few snaps at defensive end last week against Utah, Austin Seferian-Jenkins played around 10 snaps on the defensive line against Colorado. Seferian-Jenkins was in on almost all third-down passing plays.
He didn’t have a sack or a tackle, but did come up with a fumble recovery after Josh Shirley stripped Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb.
“I wish I would have picked it up and scored, but I just wanted to make sure I got the ball,” he said.
Seferian-Jenkins wasn’t the only two-way player. Because UW is so beat up on the defensive line, true freshman offensive guard Shane Brostek played a handful of snaps at defensive tackle. Sarkisian said last week that this was only temporary and Brostek, who started two games at right guard, will go back to the offensive line.
Extra points
Starting cornerback Desmond Trufant did not suit up for the game. Trufant has been battling a sore hamstring and Sarkisian decided to rest Trufant for next week’s Apple Cup. Greg Ducre started in his place. … Bishop Sankey rushed for 139 yards on 23 carries. It was the fourth straight game he has gone over 100 yards. … Kendyl Taylor scored his first touchdown as a Husky. He took a short swing pass from Price and used a nice block from Kasen Williams to reach the end zone on a 23-yard scoring play. … Wide receiver Jamal Jones, who has played sparingly this year, saw plenty of reps on special teams and also a few at receiver.
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