Washington TE Hunter Bryant Focusing on the "Why" Side of Football

SEATTLE – Last August, Hunter Bryant was a budding young freshman for Washington with seemingly unlimited potential.

The 6-foot-2, 224-pound tight end from Eastside Catholic High School (Sammamish, Washington), signed as one of 18 recruits for the class of 2017, turned down scholarship offers from Auburn, Oklahoma, Penn State, USC and UCLA to stay home and play for Chris Petersen.

In choosing UW, Bryant became the latest elite TE recruit from the state elected to spur major Power Five offers and pick UW. The last to do so was Austin Seferian-Jenkins in 2011, a four-star recruit from Gig Harbor, Wash., who went on set the Huskies school record for receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns by a TE.

The 6-foot-6 and 258-pound target machine, known more commonly as “ASJ” during the three years he spent UW, heard his name called in the second-round of the 2014 NFL Draft (No. 38 overall) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bryant played in three fewer games, hauled in 19 less receptions and fell 207 yards short of the mark Seferian-Jenkins set in his freshman season. He’s also set to begin his sophomore season significantly different than the player many are likening him to.

Petersen confirmed last month at Pac-12 Media Day that Bryant did have off-season knee surgery, adding he would also miss at minimum the season opener on Sept. 1 against Auburn, but likely more games.

Throughout fall camp Bryant has been restricted to catching pass from a jugs machine on the sideline during practice. Jordan Paopao, the Huskies TE coach, said after the ninth practice of fall camp that the plan for Bryant has been 100 percent focused on sharpening the mental side of his game.

“The biggest plan for him is to take his recovery day by day. Just trying to get him back obviously as quick as possible in a selfish way,” Paopao said. “But I think what the plan has been for him, especially at this moment right now, is Hunter Bryant has a unique ability to be able to really focus on growing the mental aspect of his game.”

As a freshman Bryant finished second on the team in receiving yards (331) behind senior wide receiver Dante Pettis, third in receptions (22) behind the aforementioned veteran and the emerging leader in 2018, junior Aaron Fuller.

Bryant was ranked as the No. 141 player by Rivals in the ’17 class, listed as the No. 4 TE prospect in the country and the No. 2 in-state recruit behind five-star offensive tackle Foster Sarell, who signed with Stanford.

“…because he is probably one of the most physically guys I’ve seen maybe since Austin Seferian-Jenkins,” Paopao added. “In terms of route running, pass catching, and god given ability. Now we are able to grow him and develop him into recognizing coverages and knowing the ‘why’.”

With Bryant expected to miss the first month of the season, leaving an outside chance he could play in the Huskies final non-conference game at home against BYU (Sept. 29), the seven remaining games all against Pac-12 schools could pose dangerous for opposing defenses.

UW has two early season conference games, at Utah (Sept. 15 and hosting Arizona State (Sept. 22), before finishing 2018 four road opponents; at UCLA (Oct. 6), at Oregon (Oct. 13), at Cal (Oct. 27) and the 111th Apple Cup at Washington State (Nov. 23).

Led by senior Drew Sample and two second-year players, sophomore Jacob Kizer and redshirt freshman Cade Otton, the Huskies have enough depth at TE to hold them over until Bryant returns.

In addition, UW has an improved receiving corps to offset the receiving numbers that Bryant would normally provide. But first-year offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach Bush Hamdan knows full well what the sophomore will provide when he is 100 percent healthy.

“There is no doubt. Yeah,” Hamdan said with a country-wide smile, adding a light-hearted laugh when asked if Bryant will be bonus when he returns.

“Yeah ha. He will provide a lot of that. Again any one of those tight ends that can be an in-line type guy, but also stretch the field can pose some different personal mismatches. So we will be counting the days to get him back.”

The Huskies have three home games after the month of September; Colorado on Oct. 20, Stanford on Nov. 3, and Oregon State on Nov. 17.

If the regular season goes as expected there should be at least two more games for Bryant in 2018, the Pac-12 Championship Game and a bowl game, if not two with a second College Football Playoff berth.

However, before all that can happen, Bryant has to learn the 'why'. Once he does, as Paopao put it, there is seemingly no limit combined with his physical tools.

"Once we get the why really, really strong with Hunter, I think there’s going to be some scary things to expect out of that kid."