UW Huskies add proven tackler, leader in graduate transfer Cam Bright
Washington has made several additions to its football roster through the transfer portal this winter.
Including a proven leader, tackler and ACC champion in graduate transfer linebacker Cam Bright.
Following five seasons at Pittsburgh, during which he became one of the program’s top defensive players and a team captain, Bright entered the transfer portal in January with one season of eligibility remaining.
Three weeks later, after a weekend visit to Seattle, he committed to the Huskies, and signed with UW not long after.
“I feel like the team welcomed me with open arms,” he said following the Huskies’ ninth practice of the spring Monday morning, speaking with reporters for the first time since his arrival.
Bright brings significant experience to a young inside linebackers room, and hasn’t missed a game during his college career.
He appeared in each of the 51 games Pitt played the past four seasons, including 20 starts, after redshirting his first year.
During that span, he played more than 1,700 defensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus, and put up impressive career numbers as one of the Panthers’ top tacklers throughout his years there.
Bright enters the 2022 season with 182 career tackles, including 20 1/2 for losses and nine sacks. He’s also collected one interception, three pass break-ups, 14 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and three recoveries in his career.
He finished with 58 tackles, 6 1/2 for losses and 3 1/2 sacks for Pitt last fall in helping the program to an 11-3 record and ACC championship — which broke a string of six straight titles won by Clemson.
“It was good because I didn’t win a state championship in high school,” Bright said of the ACC title game win. “So, to get one of those, not everybody can say they did that in their athletic career, and I feel like I can just bring a piece of that championship culture over here.”
Bright capped his career at Pitt by scoring the Panthers’ final touchdown of the season — a 26-yard scoop-and-score in the Peach Bowl against Michigan State.
“Cam’s played a lot of games in his college career, and just looking at that position and the need we had there, it was a perfect fit,” Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer said on signing day in February. “The timing was perfect. You talk about an amazing personality. You talk about a guy on a mission to want to do something real big, that is exactly him.
“I’m really fired up about what Cam’s going to bring from a leadership standpoint, too. … He’s a team player. He really wanted to understand who our roster was and what our expectations were for this fall. That was a big deal, having only one year left.”
Bright noted in his commitment announcement in January his excitement to help “lead the pack” at UW.
“I take pride in my leadership and holding guys accountable, and guys holding me accountable as well,” he said.
Which is part of what drew this new Huskies’ coaching staff to Bright during the recruiting process.
“The biggest thing was leadership,” UW co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach William Inge said Monday. “When you have someone who was elected captain by your team, you know that individual has some sweat equity in the program, that he’s done the necessary things to be a leader.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 10:10 AM.
