Fourth-year defensive lineman Elinneus Davis will be playing the Apple Cup on Sunday with a pair of true freshmen to either side of him on the defensive line.
SEATTLE — When the Washington Huskies take the field against the Washington State Cougars on Sunday at Husky Stadium, they'll do so with several true freshmen starters on the defense.
Two of those first-year players will be on the defensive line.
Interior defensive lineman Derek Colman-Brusa and edge rusher Ramzak Fruean had very different paths to get to the Huskies in the first place, and to carve out rolls on the starting defense.
Both players were four-star recruits in the team's heralded Class of 2026 and were Washington natives. Fruean originally committed to the UCLA Bruins but decommitted when the program fired DeShaun Foster and chose instead to commit to his home-state program.
Colman-Brusa, who's brother, Lowen Colman-Brusa, is on the roster, saw competition for his recruitment from other programs in the Big Ten, but opted for the Huskies right away.
Colman-Brusa received starting reps on the interior defensive line almost right away. Fruean, who originally started as an outside linebacker with the backups before transitioning to edge rusher and receiving starting reps and, eventually, the overall starting job.
The player who has most often lined up between Colman-Brusa and Fruean has been fourth-year interior defensive lineman and team captain Elinneus Davis.
Despite the experience of his pair of running mates, Davis has nothing both confidence in the true freshmen.
"With Ramzak, I feel like you all see what he can do," Davis said in a weekly news conference Tuesday at Husky Stadium. "I feel like me, playing next to him, I feel like it just gives us better chemistry, seeing where his head's at, where my head's at. We really mesh well together. ... With Derek, me and him have been working in the same rack the whole offseason so have just built each other, just talking to each other, trying to compete with each other. I feel like we've all done a really good job and I feel like we all really mesh well and I can't wait to play next to him."
Davis will be returning to the starting defensive line after a career-best season that saw him play in all 13 games and start 10.
In his third year of college ball, Davis finished with 29 total tackles (19 solo), including a half-tackle for loss and a half-sack, and defended two passes.
Davis, Colman-Brusa and Fruean will be joined on the starting defensive line by fourth-year edge rusher Jacob Lane, giving the position group a balance of raw talent and experience going into this season.
