Derek Colman-Brusa

Physical Profile

Listed 6-5, 260-267 as a high school senior and now carrying 295 pounds at Washington — roughly 30 pounds added without the athletic decay that usually accompanies that jump, which is the single most important data point in his file. Fisch's assessment ('if you look at him, you wouldn't know he's 295, he carries it so exceptionally well') and Walters' ('he still has the twitch and athleticism he had when he was a little lighter and on the edge') both confirm the frame absorbed the weight rather than the weight absorbing the athlete. Long-levered with real upper-body strength and heavy, clubbing hands. The caveat is that he is high-cut and not a natural knee-bender; he wins with length, get-off and upper-half violence more than with hip and ankle flexibility. His wrestling background shows up in hand-fighting, leverage recovery and balance through contact. At his HS weight the frame profiled as a base end who would eventually grow inside — Washington simply accelerated that timeline by a full recruiting cycle.

Play Style

A force-based, north-south rusher rather than a bend-the-arc edge. He attacks with clubbing hands and closes gaps in a hurry, playing with visible urgency snap to snap; the motor is the most consistently cited trait by both his high school coach and national evaluators. In the run game he sets the edge with upper-body strength and length, stacking and shedding more than slipping blocks. He is at his best when allowed to play forward and penetrate — get off, strike, restore separation, finish. What he is not, at least yet, is a redirect-and-bend player who wins the corner with flexibility; the outside speed rush functions primarily as a setup for the power rush rather than as a standalone weapon.

Strengths

• Elite get-off and neutral-zone explosion. He shoots off the ball and is into the blocker's frame before the set is established — the trait that drove the Tuimoloau comparison and the trait that survived the 35-pound weight gain intact, per his defensive coordinator.
• Speed-to-power conversion as a defined, repeatable move. On film he feigns the outside speed rush to bait a deep vertical set, then converts and bulldozes straight through the tackle once he has overcommitted. That is a college-caliber setup-and-counter concept, not just an athletic win, and it is the reason he was too powerful for tackles and too quick for guards at the prep level.
• Legitimate disruptive production against real competition, not just sack totals: ~68 tackles, 25 TFL, 12 sacks and 5 forced fumbles as a junior, 50/19/8 as a senior while leading Kennedy Catholic to an 8-3 record and a 7-0 NPSL 4A title. Back-to-back league Player of the Year honors and 2025 first-team all-state. The forced-fumble number is a motor and finish indicator — his head coach specifically cited the intensity and relentless motor as the separator.
• Positional flexibility that has already been cashed in. A prospect who can be recruited as an EDGE and start as an interior player as a true freshman gives a defensive staff alignment freedom across the front — he can reduce inside on passing downs or kick out to a 5-technique in base.

Areas to Improve

• Lower-body mobility and pad level. He is not a natural knee-bender and gets less out of his lower half than his frame should allow. This was a manageable flaw on the edge; inside at 3-technique it is the central developmental question, because anchoring against down blocks and double teams is a hips-and-ankles job. Walters acknowledged he needed an adjustment period early in spring before settling in by the May 1 spring game.
• Pass-rush plan and counter inventory. Prep wins came overwhelmingly from first-step advantage plus speed-to-power against overmatched blockers. Against Big Ten interior linemen he will need a genuine secondary move off the bull — a long-arm, a cross-chop, a push-pull — plus run-fit discipline, double-team recognition and gap integrity, all of which are new job requirements that the edge position never asked of him.

College Projection

Already resolved, and resolved aggressively. Washington moved him from EDGE to defensive tackle, ran him as the No. 1 DT for all 15 spring practices — something no other Husky defensive tackle managed — and both Fisch and Walters have named him the starter for the 2026 opener, which would make him the first true freshman in school history to start at defensive tackle. Realistic Year 1 expectation is a high-snap starter who flashes on passing downs and takes his lumps against veteran interior double teams, with the run-game consistency arriving in Year 2 as his anchor and technique catch up to his explosiveness. Ceiling is an all-conference interior disruptor by his sophomore or junior year.

NFL Outlook

Genuine early-round trajectory if the interior transition holds. The archetype the NFL pays for is exactly what he is becoming — a 6-5, 295-pound interior rusher who retains edge-caliber get-off — and the fact that he added the weight without losing the twitch is the strongest possible early indicator. The gating factors are ankle and hip flexibility (high-cut interior players who can't sink get exposed against NFL guards) and whether the counter rushes develop beyond speed-to-power. Starting as a true freshman in a Power conference puts him on a three-year draft clock; a top-100 outcome is the reasonable projection today, with top-50 upside if he becomes a legitimate double-team-proof three-down interior player.

Best Fit

A one-gap, attacking, penetration-first front that lets him play forward and shoot gaps rather than a two-gap read scheme that would ask him to stalemate and hold ground — the latter would attack his weakest trait (knee bend, anchor) and waste his best one (get-off). Ideally a 3-technique in an even front with the freedom to reduce to a shaded nose or kick out to a 5-technique on obvious passing downs. A staff with a track record of interior-DL development and a willingness to rotate him early is important, since the position change means his technical clock is a year behind his physical one. Washington's setup under Ryan Walters — plus the presence of his older brother Lowen, a 2025 UW offensive line signee — is close to an ideal landing spot for exactly those reasons.