Huskies’ depth should make up for Azeem Victor’s suspension

SEATTLE – Keishawn Bierria knew for some time that Azeem Victor, his good friend and fellow Washington Huskies inside linebacker, would miss Friday’s season opener at Rutgers.

They talked about the mishap, which resulted in Victor’s one-game suspension for violating team rules. Bierria, a UW captain, believes the Huskies have enough veteran leaders to overcome the loss of one of their defensive stars.

“Things happen,” Bierria said. “That’s my boy, but things happen. He’s got to bounce back from it. And I’m all the way with him on that.”

For now, the Huskies will travel to Piscataway Township, New Jersey – their first road opener since a 16-13 loss at Boise State in 2015 – without Victor, a preseason All-American who was the team’s top tackler at 6.7 per game last season before suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 10.

The Huskies were 9-0 with Victor and 3-2 without him in 2016.

“We didn’t play with him at the end of last season, so in a way this is nothing new,” said Bierria, a second-team All-Pac-12 performer who had 70 total tackles last season. “The one thing we’ve always been preaching is next man up. You don’t know what’s going to happen in a game or in a season. You don’t know how the next few weeks or months are going to play out.

“We always preach to our guys to make sure you’re ready to go. Right now somebody else is getting their name called. That’s huge. And down the line, that’s going to help us.”

Washington’s depth chart lists junior Ben Burr-Kirven as Victor’s backup. The 6-foot, 222-pound Menlo Park, California, native finished with 44 tackles while playing in every game last season.

“Ben is an exceptional player,” Bierria said. “He knows pretty much every linebacker position. He has game reps at every position. He’s played in big games at every position. So I expect him to do what he does best and play football.”

Heading into his senior season, Bierria, a three-year starter, could make life easy for Washington in its opener if he replicates last year’s dazzling performance in the opener when he finished with a career-high 12 tackles during a 48-13 win over Rutgers at Husky Stadium.

“That was just an amazing start,” said Bierria, who forced a fumble at the Rutgers 31 on the second drive that led to a touchdown. The Huskies led 24-0 after the first quarter and were up 34-3 at halftime.

“Needless to say, a lot of things went right for us in that game,” defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said.

The Scarlet Knights scored their only touchdown with 5:53 remaining in a lopsided contest that proved to be a harbinger for both teams.

Washington finished last season at 12-2 in the College Football Playoffs semifinals on the strength of a defense that allowed the fewest points in the Pac-12 (17.2 per game) and tied for eighth in the country.

Rutgers bottomed out at 2-10 largely because of a woeful offense that ranked last in the nation in yards per game (282.4) and next to last in points per game (15.7).

Second-year coach Chris Ash turned the offense over to new coordinator Jerry Kill, who abandoned a power-running attack and installed a spread offense led by new quarterback Kyle Bolin, a graduate transfer from Louisville.

Despite the changes, which includes seven new offensive starters, Washington is favored by 30.5 points.

“They have a lot of new guys coming in,” Bierria said. “It’s really a new team. A new offense. They got a bunch of receivers that transferred in. A new running back and a new QB. There’s a lot of things that changed.

“We don’t really know what they are going to come out and do. It’s definitely one of those rules games. Make sure we understand what we want to do on defense and stick to our game plan.”