THE DETAILS: ‘I’VE BEEN PRAYING FOR THIS FOR A LONG TIME’

By Mason Kelley // 12.13.16

By Washington Huskies

December 13^th, 2016

Want to know how important Keishawn Bierria is to Washington’s success? Well, his teammates provided a definitive answer when they voted for the linebacker to receive the program’s Guy Flaherty Award.

Handed out annually to the program’s most inspirational player, it is the Huskies’ most prestigious award – not to mention the oldest – handed out each year during the team’s banquet.

THE DETAILS: ‘I’VE BEEN PRAYING FOR THIS FOR A LONG TIME’

Receiving that award is a testament to the leadership and passion the junior brings to Washington. To carry himself in a way that is worthy of that award is something Bierria takes seriously.

He is always working to better himself.

“I’m definitely stepping into a leadership role,” he said. “I’ve just got to be more on it, what I say and what I do, how I talk to my teammates. Everything is about encouraging them at this point.”

And, as part of that growth, the standout is working to ensure the Huskies to wrap up the season in a fashion the fits their work so far.

“This year has been great for us, but now it’s coming down to finishing it and making sure our guys come into this game ready to finish what we did this year,” he said. “We’re just going to play our best ball, pretty much just get everybody prepared and be ready to go when it’s game time.”

The team’s third-leading tackler (63), Bierria has recovered five fumbles this year. His performance has helped the Huskies to the 12-1 record that earned the team a trip to the Peach Bowl to play top-ranked Alabama at noon on New Year’s Eve.

When he looks at everything the program has accomplished and what lies ahead, Bierria believes this season is a byproduct of a process years in the making.

“Personally, I can only speak for myself, but I saw the joy people had for this Pac-12 championship, but I’ve seen this in my team for so long,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was really surprised. It was more like, ‘Finally.’ We’ve been working for this. It’s about time we got it.”

Once the Huskies won the Pac-12 title, Bierria was “on to the next thing.”

“We want to compete against the best and sometimes that’s not always in our conference,” he said. “Now we’re moving up. We’re taking another step. This is the stage we’re supposed to be on.”

This trip to Atlanta is the next step in a journey that twisted and trended toward the top of the college football world.

“I’ve been praying for this for a long time,” he said. “This has been one of my dreams and I’m pretty sure all my teammates feel the same way, because they’re competitors. We call ourselves the Alpha Dawgs, so we’ve got to go compete against the best.”