Washington’s leading returning receiver could miss all of 2018

Washington, the overwhelming favorite to claim the Pac-12 crown, already knew it was coming into the 2018 season having to replace significant lost production in the passing game. As it stands now, they could very well have to replace even more.

Speculation has been bouncing around social media of late that Hunter Bryant was dealing with what was potentially a significant injury issue. At the Pac-12 Media Days Wednesday, Chris Petersen confirmed that the Huskies tight end had undergone knee surgery earlier this offseason.

As a result, the head coach further confirmed that Bryant will miss at least the start of the 2018 regular season. Not only that, but Petersen indicated that Bryant missing the entire year is not out of the question.

From al.com:

He’s not going to be ready at the start of the season,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said at Pac-12 media day. “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. It will be a month or two before we can even kind of really see where he’s at. The surgery went really, really well.

Last season as a true freshman, Bryant’s 331 yards receiving were second on the team while his 22 receptions were third. With Dante Pettis and his 761 yards off to the NFL, Bryant was the Huskies’ leading returning receiver in receiving yards.

Aaron Fuller, with 26 and 291, will now be UW’s leading returning receiver in catches and yards to open the upcoming season.