UW Could Start 3 Freshmen on Defense -- Is That Too Many?

As the University of Washington football team gets ready to unveil its new and improved defensive unit, one promising more of an attacking style, the Huskies could have as many as three true freshmen manning the 11 spots.

Jedd Fisch says he's not afraid to rely on first-year players, that he's done it throughout his head-coaching career, that if a player can play, he will do so immediately.

While that's a fairly heady approach, they're still just freshmen, 17 or 18 years old, and despite their respective talent levels, they're bound to make freshmen mistakes, need to time to get acclimated to the rigors of college football and maybe learn a painful lesson or two.

While second-year cornerback Dylan Robinson has been described by Fisch and defensive coordinator Ryan Walters as an NFL first-round draft pick walking around, Oregon couldn't wait to go after him as a freshman during last year's game and make him pay for his youth.

Ducks receivers twice got a step on the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Robinson and beat him on long passes in wrapping up a 26-14 victory at Husky Stadium last November.

Now come defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa, edge rusher Ramzak Fruean and possibly nickelback Jeron Jones -- all freshmen defenders who could become NFL players some day -- but somewhere along the way each of these guys likely will go through some form of uncomfortable initiation.

Broken in as college players. Left to pick themselves up off the turf and shake off whatever happened. Had their confidence tested.

"In terms of like things I'll be looking for is just that they're executing their jobs like everybody else," UW defensive coordinator Ryan Walters said. "It's like one thing I've said before that I love about the game of football is once the ball is snapped, nobody cares how old you are.

"It's are you producing and doing your job at a high level?"

Jeron Jones changes direction in CB drill in Dempsey Indoor. | Dave Sizer photo

During his recruitment as this young prodigy, the 6-foot-5, 295-pound Colman-Brusa was seen touring the football facilities of Ohio State and Oregon.

Would the always deep Buckeyes or the Ducks feel compelled to put him in the opening lineup right away or rather make him become a seasoned player initially by coming off the bench?

The Huskies will tell you Colman-Brusa, who was made a starter before even spring ball began, has three-dozen Husky practices under his belt now as a first-team defensive tackle and should be ready for anything. His spot was open when he arrived.

As fall camp pulled to a close, Fisch and his staff determined they could no longer hold back the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Fruean, who has amazing speed and the potential to ring up a large number of sacks, and made him a starter.

The freshman edge supplants fifth-year returnee Isaiah Ward, a 19-game starter at Arizona and Washington, and someone who had the misfortune of missing multiple fall practices with some sort of untimely injury.

Ramzak Fruean takes a drink during spring practice. | Dave Sizer photo

Jones, competing with third-year returnee Rahshawn Clark for the No. 1 nickel spot, hasn't been promoted to starter just yet publicly, with the coaches only mentioning that he's strongly in the running.

However, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound freshman has continued to impress the Fisch staff with his ability to pick up things fast at both corner and nickel.

It would be a really big deal if he were able to beat out Clark, a 5-game starter in this role from the previous season and someone considered a quality player.

Entrusting three of 11 starting jobs to freshmen for this defense sounds like a bold step for the Huskies, for sure, putting a lot of trust in talented yet untested players.

Yet like Walters said, if they can play, nobody cares how old they are.

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