UW Roster Review: Huskies Ready to Unleash Colman-Brusa

Whenever University of Washington football coaches discuss freshman Derek Colman-Brusa, you get the feeling these guys moonlight as mad scientists deviously making a genetically advanced monster in the basement.

Creating something rarely seen before.

Getting ready to unleash it on the Big Ten masses.

Foremost, this involves defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, who has showed himself to be extra creative in utilizing his manpower.

Everyone else who recruited Colman-Brusa saw an edge rusher, which is what he played at Seattle's Kennedy Catholic High School.

The Huskies turned him into an agile defensive tackle.

When spring football began, they unveiled this then 17-year-old kid carrying huge dimensions mixed with quickness and power.

"He still has the twitch and athleticism he had when was a little lighter and on the edge," Walters said. "So to have that athleticism coupled with the 6-5 frame and 295 pounds, he has a chance to be pretty special in there."

Derek Colman-Brusa comes out of stance while warming up for the Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the UW roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

It's been a while since the Huskies have had a truly elite defensive lineman and none of the previous ones compare to the progress Colman-Brusa has made so early in his career.

Steve Emtman, perhaps the greatest player in school history and an overall No. 1 NFL draft pick, didn't play at all as a freshman defensive tackle in 1988 and redshirted.

Vita Vea , one of the best at that position in the NFL, likewise didn't play in his first year in Montlake either and redshirted.

Doug Martin, who recently passed away, started five games as a freshman in 1976, while Scott Garnett and Danny Shelton each opened a pair of games as first-year players in 1980 and 2011, respectively.

Derek Colman-Brusa cuts a svelte 295 pounds as a freshman. | Dave Sizer photo

Colman-Brusa should exceed all of them in launching his Husky career. He is the annointed one.

“I would be shocked if he’s not a Day 1-type starter," Walters said before spring ball began. "He’s 6-5, almost 300 pounds and can run. He’s in the upper-echelon in the strength numbers."

That's not to say Colman-Brusa didn't need a period of adjustment, but it came early in spring practice and he played through it.

"You could tell the first couple of weeks of spring ball it was moving sort of fast for him," Walters said.

Yet by the time Colman-Brusa turned 18 on April 28 and the Spring Game was played on May 1, this prodigy seemed all settled in.

Derek Colman-Brusa is off to a great start in UW football. | Dave Sizer photo

He's clearly a specimen. Colman-Brusa might be the trimmest almost 300-pounder you will encounter.

The coaching staff took the tact it was going to let his size and strength naturally evolve.

"If you look at him, you wouldn’t know he’s 295," Husky Jedd Fisch concurred. "He carries it so exceptionally well that it wasn’t going to be our place to mess with the biology there.”

It appears someone already did something to Colman-Brusa's DNA, maybe spiking it with a football potion that could lead to greatness.

What he's done: After choosing the Huskies over Ohio State and Oregon, Colman-Brusa went through all 15 spring practices as a No. 1 defensive tackle, something no other defensive tackle has done in school annals.

Starter or not: Fisch and Walters have barely been able to contain their enthusiasm for a player who is way off the charts in terms of physical attributes. They've committed to him as the starter for the coming season.

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