The Washington Huskies started three true freshmen on defense in their 24-10 Apple Cup win on Saturday, a fact that surprised some when the two-deep depth chart was released earlier this week. Defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa was the No. 158 player in the country and listed as an edge, but was the Huskies' third-highest-rated defensive recruit in the 2026 class.
Edge rusher Ramzak Fruean just barely edged his way into being a four-star as the No. 293 player in the country, but was listed at linebacker and didn't commit until December after a brief pledge to UCLA. Cornerback Jeron Jones was the lowest-rated four-star in the class, clocking in at No. 438, and was the second-highest-rated cornerback in the class.
And yet, Saturday showed why the Huskies haven't been able to keep their freshman trio off the field.
After Fruean jumped offside on a second-and-12 deep in Washington State's territory in the second quarter, he responded with a hit to Washington State quarterback Caden Pinnick's arm that forced an incompletion. On third down, Colman-Brusa came free on a looping rush around the edge and batted Pinnick's pass into the arms of Jones, who returned it 9 yards to put the Huskies on Washington State's 21-yard line.
Washington scored their first touchdown of the season on a 5-yard Demond Williams Jr. run five plays later.

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