Washington TE Hunter Bryant Will Not Be Ready For Start of 2018 Season
HOLLYWOOD – Sophomore tight end Hunter Bryant will not be healthy for the start of the 2018 regular season, Washington head coach Chris Petersen confirmed Wednesday at Pac-12 Media Day.
“So Hunter did have surgery. We’ll just see how he progresses,” Petersen said. “He’s not going to be ready at the start of the season. May end up being his redshirt year, especially with the four games that we can play. But he will not be ready at the start of the season and it’ll be a month or two before we can kind of really see where he’s at.”
The question brings relative clarity to Bryant’s status after he tweeted a picture suggesting a sever leg injury during the summer. Petersen, who makes no apologies regarding his stance on discussing injuries, joked by asking “who’s that?” before delivering his answer.
Bryant, a former four-star from Eastside Catholic High School (Sammamish, Washington) who signed with UW over UCLA among others as a part of the 2017 recruiting class, recorded 22 receptions for 331 yards and one touchdown as a true freshman last season.
The loss elevates wide receiver Aaron Fuller as the teams leading returner in the passing game, who finished second on the team in receptions (26) and third in receiving yards (291) in 2017.
Behind the sophomore and the expected starter come fall camp is senior Drew Sample who has just 21 receptions and two touchdowns in his three-year career at UW. Jusstis Warren moved from linebacker to TE during the spring to provide additional depth, joining a slew of underclassmen; Cade Otton, Jacob Kizer, and junior Michael Neal.
“It was a really unique injury,” Petersen added, explaining the nature of Bryant’s setback. “They rehabbed it and rehab was going really well for him to do spring football. And then just in a workout it kind of swell up and wasn’t acting right. So they did decide to go in there and felt really good about what they did.
“And our doctors usually don’t come out saying they feel really good about all this, but they did. So I think his long-term prognosis is really good. It’s just going to take some time to get him back.”