Youthful Husky Football Team Trying to Grow Up Real Fast

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?

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.

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.