Wellington Ready To Fill Big Shoes On The Huskies' Defense
September 04, 2019 | Football
By Madison MacPhee
For senior inside linebacker Brandon Wellington, it was not always UW. The local kid out of Eastside Catholic, despite living so close, was never set on staying too close to home for college.
"It was weird growing up because I really wanted to go to USC because of Reggie Bush – he was one of my favorite college football players," Wellington said. "I also wanted to go to Oregon, those two were kind of the big ones."
Slowly though, once in high school, Washington came into the picture and grew on Wellington. In the end, Wellington is ultimately happy with the choice he made and has learned and grown a lot over the past three years as a Husky.
"Growing up UW wasn't always the focus, but I'm happy the way it turned out," Wellington said.
The Huskies are also definitely glad he chose UW and are ready for him to step up this season. Wellington, as a senior leader on the team, will need to help lead the young defense this year.
Wellington was a top-ranked recruit in 2016 by 247 Sports and in high school was always the star. So when he arrived at a Division I school, where almost everyone was the star in high school, he was in for a shock.
"Coming in from high school, you are that guy, but everybody knows that coming in here," Wellington said. "They have that walk to them, but it is really humbling when you get here because there are a bunch of guys that have put work in before you even came. It is just a whole different ball game. It is something you almost have to relearn and be comfortable with."
At six-feet tall and 226 pounds, Wellington stacks up well for his position and will be a key on defense. He will need to make some big tackles and be able to read other teams' offense to stop the run game. He will also need to fill some big shoes.
Ben Burr-Kirven, who was the 2018 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and many other dominant upperclassmen were ahead of Wellington in the depth chart, making him a little bit hidden at the inside linebacker position. However, he took his situation as a learning opportunity to be challenged and mentored by his older counterparts.
"Learning behind Ben and Tevis [Bartlett] and Azeem [Victor] was a great opportunity and experience," Wellington admitted. "Coming in as a freshman, I was learning to play inside for the first time. Being in that backup position was really overwhelming at first.
"Then I sat down with them and just really watched them play the game and saw how they read things. I was finally getting comfortable with the schemes and our play systems."
But, just when Wellington was starting to get the hang of things and come into his own on the field, an injury hampered his progress.
"Coming into my sophomore year, I was really comfortable with the style of play and saw my playing time start to grow a little bit," Wellington said. "Then I had an ACL tear at the end of my sophomore year and that was pretty difficult on me. I really got down on myself because it is a pretty big injury."
With a season-ending injury coming almost exactly at the halfway point in his college career, Wellington had to change his mindset on the setback. The first step in the recovery process was mental for Wellington as he had to reevaluate his goals.
"I looked at it in a positive way and took it as motivation to come back stronger. There was a lot of rehab and I was just focusing on that and just worked my way back into my junior year," he said.
Now, going into his senior season, healthy and earning the starting spot in the middle of the Huskies' defense, it is his time to shine. When asked if there were any nerves with the spotlight now focused on him, Wellington said, "I don't look at it as though 'Okay, now the spotlight is on me.' I don't like to take that approach. I just like to keep my head down and keep working – that is just my whole motive and my whole drive. I don't really fight to be that superstar guy. I don't really want the spotlight on me, I just want to show it on my team and what they can do."
Even though Wellington doesn't necessarily want to be in the limelight, there is no doubt he will need to fill the gaping hole Burr-Kirven left on the Huskies' defense, and if he wants to achieve his dream of going into the NFL this will need to be a breakout year for him.
"A dream job for me is obviously playing in the NFL," Wellington said. "Other than that, at first I wanted to be a lawyer, now I'm looking more into sports agency, that is something that has really grown on me. I have been reading up on it and talking to a lot of people. It's something that I am interested in because I'm always going to be stuck around the sports field and I think I can negotiate well."
In the end when asked who has had the biggest impact on his life, or career, Wellington immediately blurted out, "Oh, my dad for sure. He has taught me how to put my head down and keep working through hard times and keep that chip on my shoulder and never lose faith."
You can see that he is taking his dad's advice to heart in the way he carries himself. Wellington has a big senior season ahead of him full of expectations, spotlights, and pressure to live up to past Husky greats. Despite all that, he remains calm, cool, and collected, simply ready to play some football.
For senior inside linebacker Brandon Wellington, it was not always UW. The local kid out of Eastside Catholic, despite living so close, was never set on staying too close to home for college.
"It was weird growing up because I really wanted to go to USC because of Reggie Bush – he was one of my favorite college football players," Wellington said. "I also wanted to go to Oregon, those two were kind of the big ones."
Slowly though, once in high school, Washington came into the picture and grew on Wellington. In the end, Wellington is ultimately happy with the choice he made and has learned and grown a lot over the past three years as a Husky.
"Growing up UW wasn't always the focus, but I'm happy the way it turned out," Wellington said.
The Huskies are also definitely glad he chose UW and are ready for him to step up this season. Wellington, as a senior leader on the team, will need to help lead the young defense this year.
Wellington was a top-ranked recruit in 2016 by 247 Sports and in high school was always the star. So when he arrived at a Division I school, where almost everyone was the star in high school, he was in for a shock.
"Coming in from high school, you are that guy, but everybody knows that coming in here," Wellington said. "They have that walk to them, but it is really humbling when you get here because there are a bunch of guys that have put work in before you even came. It is just a whole different ball game. It is something you almost have to relearn and be comfortable with."
At six-feet tall and 226 pounds, Wellington stacks up well for his position and will be a key on defense. He will need to make some big tackles and be able to read other teams' offense to stop the run game. He will also need to fill some big shoes.
Ben Burr-Kirven, who was the 2018 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and many other dominant upperclassmen were ahead of Wellington in the depth chart, making him a little bit hidden at the inside linebacker position. However, he took his situation as a learning opportunity to be challenged and mentored by his older counterparts.
"Learning behind Ben and Tevis [Bartlett] and Azeem [Victor] was a great opportunity and experience," Wellington admitted. "Coming in as a freshman, I was learning to play inside for the first time. Being in that backup position was really overwhelming at first.
"Then I sat down with them and just really watched them play the game and saw how they read things. I was finally getting comfortable with the schemes and our play systems."
But, just when Wellington was starting to get the hang of things and come into his own on the field, an injury hampered his progress.
"Coming into my sophomore year, I was really comfortable with the style of play and saw my playing time start to grow a little bit," Wellington said. "Then I had an ACL tear at the end of my sophomore year and that was pretty difficult on me. I really got down on myself because it is a pretty big injury."
With a season-ending injury coming almost exactly at the halfway point in his college career, Wellington had to change his mindset on the setback. The first step in the recovery process was mental for Wellington as he had to reevaluate his goals.
"I looked at it in a positive way and took it as motivation to come back stronger. There was a lot of rehab and I was just focusing on that and just worked my way back into my junior year," he said.
Now, going into his senior season, healthy and earning the starting spot in the middle of the Huskies' defense, it is his time to shine. When asked if there were any nerves with the spotlight now focused on him, Wellington said, "I don't look at it as though 'Okay, now the spotlight is on me.' I don't like to take that approach. I just like to keep my head down and keep working – that is just my whole motive and my whole drive. I don't really fight to be that superstar guy. I don't really want the spotlight on me, I just want to show it on my team and what they can do."
Even though Wellington doesn't necessarily want to be in the limelight, there is no doubt he will need to fill the gaping hole Burr-Kirven left on the Huskies' defense, and if he wants to achieve his dream of going into the NFL this will need to be a breakout year for him.
"A dream job for me is obviously playing in the NFL," Wellington said. "Other than that, at first I wanted to be a lawyer, now I'm looking more into sports agency, that is something that has really grown on me. I have been reading up on it and talking to a lot of people. It's something that I am interested in because I'm always going to be stuck around the sports field and I think I can negotiate well."
In the end when asked who has had the biggest impact on his life, or career, Wellington immediately blurted out, "Oh, my dad for sure. He has taught me how to put my head down and keep working through hard times and keep that chip on my shoulder and never lose faith."
You can see that he is taking his dad's advice to heart in the way he carries himself. Wellington has a big senior season ahead of him full of expectations, spotlights, and pressure to live up to past Husky greats. Despite all that, he remains calm, cool, and collected, simply ready to play some football.
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