Junior Connor O'Brien, who replaced the injured Joe Mathis at Buck linebacker, is limited in UW's Peach Bowl practice Tuesday.
ATLANTA — It appears likely that No. 4 Washington will be without one of its regular starting linebackers, Connor O’Brien, against No. 1 Alabama in their national semifinal game on Saturday.
O’Brien, a junior, replaced the injured Joe Mathis as the starting Buck linebacker midway through the season, and then O’Brien was injured in the Huskies’ 45-17 Apple Cup romp the day after Thanksgiving. He did not play a week later in the Huskies’ victory over Colorado in the Pac-12 championship game.
At practice Tuesday morning, during the 15-minute window open to the media at Georgia State’s practice field, O’Brien was not wearing pads and was running at about half speed while wearing a brace on his left knee.
If O’Brien is unable to play in the Peach Bowl, redshirt freshman Benning Potoa’e would be in line to start at Buck. Potoa’e had one tackle for loss in his starting debut against Colorado.
Mathis, a senior, did not make the trip to Atlanta with the Huskies. He is back home in Southern California recovering from November surgery on both of his feet and preparing for the NFL draft.
Star middle linebacker Azeem Victor did make the trip with the team to Atlanta, and he was wearing his practice jersey No. 36 while watching from the sideline during practice Tuesday morning (as seen in the video above).