WSU coaches thought they had Bruhn
out of high school but academics sent him back to JuCo, and they continued to
for the next two years.
However, part of what contributed to
the poor performance in school and ultimately to his comeback was a tragedy in
his personal life. Bruhn won’t say
what that tragedy was exactly but Cougar running backs coach Kelly
Skipper said what may have been a deterrence at first ultimately helped him
see the big picture of what he wanted to do with football. In fact, Skipper was
integral in making sure he stayed with the Cougars.
When Mike Price left, Bruhn
was left wondering about his future. And two states away he was just receiving
bits and pieces. “I thought the whole coaching staff had left,” he said.
Skipper may have been new to the
program, but he knew there was one person he needed to talk to.
“When I got hired here he was the
first person I wanted to see,” Skipper said. “We went out and told him we still
want him here.”
So now that Bruhn is officially part of the family, Skipper says it is back to the embryonic
stage for Bruhn.
“We’re going to give him a crash
course and then break it down and go back over it,” Skipper said.
Right now Bruhn is working on
learning how to use his feet in the Cougars’ offense. Typically he’s been part
of an I-formation offense where he just explodes. With the Cougars using a
variety of passing plays he has to learn routes, how to tip toe before
exploding, as well as adjusting to different blocking schemes.
“His mind is telling him one thing
but his body is not reacting fast enough,” Skipper said. “These other guys are
moving a lot faster because they already know all this stuff.”
While Bruhn may be in the embryonic stages there is little doubt his re-birth as a player
will come. And with the right family support success it’s inevitable.
“I didn’t want to go to any other
school,” said Bruhn, who was listed as the nation’s 27th best JuCo prospect by
JCFootball.com. “WSU stuck with me through everything. With the tragedies
in my life I knew these guys were like family and that’s the people I want to be
around during the hard times.”
NOTABLE NOTES: Ropati Pioitua, a 6-foot-1
240-pound linebacker out of Clover Park High in Lakewood will not be eligible to
enter WSU this fall because of grades. He signed with the Cougars this past February. Most likely Pioitua will enroll in January and
grayshirt.
.... Contact drills are to begin on Sunday.