Youthful Husky Football Team Trying to Grow Up Real Fast

Just two of the current UW starters are slated to use up their eligibility this season.

Freshman edge rusher Ramzak Fruean still is just 17 years old. | Dave Sizer photo

At multiple positions, the University of Washington football team is so young, one could find plenty of high school players on Friday night who are older than some of these guys.

Starting defensive tackle Derek Colman Brusa turned 18 during spring football practice in late April while starting edge rusher Ramzak Fruean is only 17 while opening all seven games for the Huskies so far.

Certainly some of the UW's early struggles (4-3 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) have come down to the team using so many teenagers all at once while going head to head with much older players at other schools.

"This is a young team," UW coach Jedd Fisch has said over and over.

So how young is young for the Huskies?

Derek Colman-Brusa has started seven games as a freshman defensive tackle. | Dave Sizer photo

Consider the Huskies have just two players among their starting 22 from last weekend's Purdue game who will use up their eligibility and have to move on at the end of the season in linebacker Jacob Manu and right offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi.

When the Huskies finished up in the LA Bowl against Boise State last December, they had six seniors in the starting lineup who were finished once that game was over.

Three years ago, Kalen DeBoer's Huskies were considered one of the oldest college football teams around and had six starters who were done once the Huskies lost to Michigan 34-13 in the CFP national championship game.

Freshman running back Brian Bonner Jr. looks for an opening. | Dave Sizer photo

With the transfer portal in place, some people were worried that all of the movement of older players from school to school would damage high school recruiting to some degree.

At Washington, that hasn't happened because Fisch and his coachig staff continue to bring in younger and younger players and promise they'll play early.

There's a certain level of risk in using so many youngsters early on, plus you have to keep them from leaving, yet it can have significant rewards down the line.

This first-unit group listed below collectively has 46 more seasons available to play after 2026 if it uses up the future allotment of eligibility still available to these players. And, again, retains everyone in Montlake.

Keep it together, and it could be a veteran, savvy group some day.

The following is a closer look at the current 22 Husky football starters with their eligibility laid out.

CURRENT 2026 UW STARTERS	Eligibility Remaining
OFFENSE
LT -- John Mills	freshman starter in 2025, who has three more seasons of eligibility
LG -- Kolt Dieterich	Sam Houston State transfer and place-holder center for previously injured Landen Hatchett who has one more season of eligibility
C -- Landen Hatchett	fourth-year player who has the option to return in 2027
RG -- Champ Taulealea	second-year player with three seasons of eligbility left
RT -- Drew Azzopardi	fifth-year player counting San Diego State who is done following this season
TE -- Decker DeGraaf	third-year player who has two seasons remaining to use
WR -- Dezmen Roebuck	second-year player who has three more seasons if he wants them
WR -- Rashid Williams	fourth-year player with one more season remaining
WR -- Chris Lawson	second-year player who has three more seasons of eligibility
QB -- Elijah Brown	third-year player with two more seasons of eligibility left
RB -- Brian Bonner Jr.	freshman with four more seasons after this one
DEFENSE
ER -- Ramzak Fruean	freshman likewise with four more seasons
DT -- Derek Colman-Brusa	yet another freshman with four more years left to play
DT -- Elinneus Davis	fourth-year Husky with another season of eligibility
ER -- Jacob Lane	fourth-year player who didn't redshirt early on who has another season available
LB -- Jacob Manu	fifth-year player from Arizona and UW who will finish his career this fall.
LB -- Zaydrius Rainey-Sale	second-year player with three seasons on top of this one
CB -- Manny Karnley	former Arizona and Virginia player in his fourth season has an additional year if he wants it
CB -- Dylan Robinson	second-year player has three more seasons available to him
S -- Alex McLaughlin	fourth-year player, counting Northern Arizona, who has one more year if he desires.
S -- Rylon Dillard-Allen	second-year player who has three seasons remaining
N -- Rahshawn Clark	third-year player who has two seasons remaining