True Freshman Washington Huskies Defensive Lineman Highlighted For Week 1 Performance

The Washington Huskies football team had will head into their second game of the season against the Utah State Aggies at 12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium 1-0 after a 24-10 win in the Apple Cup against the Washington State Cougars on Sept. 6.

The Huskies didn't have as dominant a day, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, as they would have hoped. However, the defense was stellar and showed flashes of the potential players and coaches talked about in the offseason.

A part of Washington's defense included several true freshmen starters, and two of them made a noticeable impact, which was recognized by a publication.

On3 Sports writer Charles Power published a list on the site of true freshmen standouts from Week 1 of college football, and defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa was included on the list.

Colman-Brusa played 28 snaps in his first-ever college game. He finished with three tackles, including one tackle for loss and two quarterback pressures. He tipped a pass, which ended up going into the arms of fellow true freshman and cornerback Jeron Jones.

The defensive tackle was a consensus four-star player and top 200 player in the recruiting class. He was originally recruited as an edge rusher and was ranked as the 158th-best overall player, ninth-best edge rusher and best player in Washington, per the 247Sports composite.

The 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive tackle put on roughly 20 pounds in the offseason from when he was committed and was moved from the edge to the inside of the defensive line.

Colman-Brusa played reps with the starting reps for nearly the entire offseason and proved why the coaching staff was content in giving starting reps to the Kennedy Catholic (Burien, Wash.) graduate.

Washington head coach Jedd Fisch and the rest of the coaching staff have echoed the sentiments that the "best players will play," regardless of experience. This led to Colman-Brusa, Jones, edge rusher Ramzak Fruean and left tackle Kodi Greene all receiving significant reps in Sunday's game. Jones and Greene were named to On3 Sports' preseason True Freshman All-American list.

Four-star Class of 2026 wide receivers Jordan Clay and Trez Davis will also likely see an increase in reps due to an unspecified soft-tissue injury to sixth-year wide receiver Christian Moss.

Sunday wasn't a perfect game for all of UW's first-year contributors, but Colman-Brusa's performance was a good sign of what could potentially come for the talented youngster.