Last year, his college football dream was dying. In 2020, he’ll be on UK’s roster.
Jase Bruner thought he could play Division I football. Then, a tour of summer camps before his junior season jolted his long-term outlook.
“I was kind of naive,” said Bruner, a senior linebacker at Somerset High School. “I went to a bunch of big D1 schools and then I quickly got put back in my place. Quickly.”
One of those camps was at the University of Kentucky, where, by his own admission, he couldn’t hold his own at all. Then-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Matt House didn’t seem impressed with many of the prospects in attendance, according to Bruner, and that was especially true of him.
“It’s been a dream for a long, long time, but I was like, ‘I don’t think I can do it,’” Bruner said.
Later camp performances at FCS schools improved Bruner’s confidence — “All right, I’m not as bad as I thought” — but his expectations remained tempered. In the fall he focused on his academics — his performance in the classroom would merit enough future scholarship money to make icing out of any potential football offers — and helping the Briar Jumpers reach the Class 2A state semifinals (where they fell to eventual champion Christian Academy of Louisville).
Bruner this past summer had a limited window to attend football camps because of a five-week obligation to the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program. Despite how it went before, his mom pushed him to again attend UK’s camp.
This time, he left with a preferred walk-on offer, an opportunity he accepted this month. What changed?
Sumrall and Square
Jon Sumrall probably asked Bruner what his name was about 25 times before that prospect camp ended. There were about 20 middle linebackers — Sumrall’s position group — in attendance that day.
“I might’ve been the second-biggest one of all. We’re going through drills and I feel like I’m doing good, better than I’d done at any other camp,” Bruner said. “I got beat maybe twice all day and felt ecstatic.”
Sumrall, a former Wildcat who was hired by UK from Troy in February, spoke with Bruner at day’s end and was delighted to hear about his academic profile. He offered him a walk-on chance that day and has continued to speak with him regularly.
It wasn’t just Sumrall who took a liking to Bruner, though. DeAndre Square, a standout sophomore who leads UK in tackles through 10 games, took him under his wing during the camp and the two developed a friendship.
Collin Hartmann, a current walk-on from Somerset, and Square became quick friends as freshmen, and the Detroit native has frequently traveled with Hartmann when he visits family down I-75. The pair watched Bruner rack up nine tackles and recover a fumble in Somerset’s 21-9 win at Hazard this year.
“I like him. He’s a good linebacker,” Square said. “He’s patient, he has good feet and he’s physical. I think he’ll be pretty good here.”
Kentucky coaches can’t talk about specific recruits until they’ve signed letters of intent or are officially part of the roster, but Sumrall told the Herald-Leader this month that recruiting walk-ons commands as much of the staff’s attention as chasing four-star prospects.
“We’re not just gonna take our scholarship guys and be happy with that,” Sumrall said. “We’re gonna find the guys that fit us, walk-on wise, that can help us get better as a program and a team, and we’ve got a couple of those guys we’re working on right now that we’re excited about.”
One current former walk-on, Zach Johnson, earned a scholarship last season and has played for the Wildcats.
“Usually those guys show up on the (scout) teams doing really good things,” Sumrall said of walk-ons who earn scholarships while on campus. “They get an opportunity on special teams, their roles just grow because they’re consistent and they work really hard and they’re dependable.”
Walk-on trajectory
Sumrall was a college teammate of Justin Haydock, a former St. Xavier High School star who walked on at Kentucky and eventually earned a scholarship. Could Bruner have a similar trajectory?
“He said, ‘Jase, that’s who I see you as for us,’” Bruner said, referencing his first conversation with Sumrall. “’You fit the build of him and you fit the build of an SEC linebacker.’”
Kentucky had about 30 walk-on players on its roster entering the 2019 season. Two of them, Drew Schlegel and Brett Slusher, have been consistent contributors as seniors. Slusher, like Bruner, was an incredibly productive linebacker at a small Kentucky school with rich gridiron tradition (Beechwood).
Whether he ever gets on the field or not, Bruner will get to live out a dream that just a year ago seemed lost. His favorite athlete is Danny Trevathan; now he’ll get to stand on the same sidelines as the current Chicago Bear once did.
“The first game I ever remember was when Stevie (Johnson) got loose versus Louisville,” Bruner said of his UK fandom. “From then on out, I’ve been crazy about ’em.”
Bruner was recruiting for the Wildcats long before he had a chance to play there. Somerset teammate Kaiya Sheron, a 6-foot-3 quarterback in the class of 2021, is a three-star prospect with a UK offer.
Sheron, a transplant from Ohio, wasn’t sold on Kentucky during Stoops’ first couple of seasons.
“I was like, dude, give it some time,” Bruner said. “Stoops has got this.”
It didn’t take him long to give Sheron an earful after UK completed a 10-3 campaign in January.
“After the Citrus Bowl win I was like, ‘Told ya!’ Bruner said. “I’m very much in his ear telling him where he needs to come.”
Saturday
Louisville at Kentucky
When: Noon
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Louisville 7-4, Kentucky 6-5
Series: Kentucky leads 16-15
Last meeting: Kentucky won 56-10 on Nov. 24, 2018, in Louisville.
