High school football recruiting: Here’s how WA’s ’26, ’27 classes are shaping up
The 2025 high school football season is just around the corner. The summer is an important time for high school football recruits, who have the chance to participate in showcases and camps in front of college football coaches, hoping to pull in coveted scholarship offers to big-time programs.
TNT sports reporter Jon Manley caught up with 247sports.com national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman for a recruiting update. Here’s the conversation.
Jon Manley: What’s your take on the 2026 class in Washington? You have two players as four-star recruits in your Top247 rankings, which follows the trend from last year’s class of not being as top-heavy as classes in the few years prior.
Brandon Huffman: Yeah. It’s funny because there’s a little more depth this year in terms of the top-end talent. It’s just not elite top-end guys. You don’t have a (Bethel ‘25 linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale), but you have (Kennedy Catholic defensive end) Derek Colman-Brusa, (O’Dea defensive lineman) David Schwerzel. There’s more dispersal to Power Four Schools. Multiple Big Ten commits, and not just the west coast Big Ten schools. The midwest Big Ten Schools are coming out here and recruiting. Colorado, which doesn’t recruit a lot of high school players, is coming up here. It’s spread out pretty good. And then some of the FCS schools got some steals with talent in the state.
JM: Kennedy Catholic defensive end Derek Colman-Brusa, who recently committed to Washington, takes the No. 1 spot in the 2026 class rankings. What makes him a four-star recruit and the top prospect in the state, in your view?
BH: Just an explosive edge rusher. The best pure pass rusher in the state since (Eastside Catholic/Ohio State/Indianapolis Colts) J.T. Tuimoloau. It’s funny, if he played on the offensive line, he’d probably be the top offensive lineman in the state, as a prospect. He’s so athletic, so strong, so quick off the ball. He’s been a force for three years as an edge rusher. I think his future is really bright. He’s what you see Michigan, Penn State getting in those type of defensive linemen. He reminds me a lot of the Stanford linemen under Harbaugh and in the early David Shaw years.
JM: That’s the second year in a row UW coach Jedd Fisch has secured a year commitment from the top in-state player after getting Bethel linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale last year. How big of a commitment is that for his staff, just in terms of momentum?
BH: It’s huge. That was something Kalen DeBoer really scuffled with. In the two classes he was here, they didn’t get the No. 1 player in the state either year. Granted, they came in late mid-cycle in the 2022 class. You look at how good that 2022 offensive line class was, (Rainer Beach/Oregon) Josh Conerly is in the NFL now, (Graham-Kapowsin/Penn State) Vega Ioane, (O’Dea/Texas A&M) Mark Nabou; all now becoming impact guys elsewhere. It never was a big priority. (Fisch) getting Zay after DeBoer had him for the four days he had him — he was prioritizing in-state kids. I think that’s important. They’re always gonna get in-state kids, but when you’re losing the top guys to other schools in your conference, that’s a tougher blow.
JM: O’Dea defensive lineman David Schwerzel, a UCLA commit, is the other four-star in the class. What do you like about his game and how much was his status cemented by that state tournament run O’Dea had last year?
BH: To me, it was kind of like he made that impression in the first game of the season, when he had a strip sack to win against Graham-Kapowsin, then had another strip sack a couple weeks later against Rainier Beach. With such a senior-heavy crowd O’Dea had the year before, I think a lot of people didn’t think O’Dea would come back and be as good as they were. They had the best defensive line in the state, if not one of the best of the west coast. The jump (Schwerzel) made from his sophomore to junior season, he put on weight, got bigger, stronger, became more dominant. It was dominant from the beginning to the end of the season.
JM: It might not be top-heavy, but it feels like there’s good depth to this class, right? I see a lot of your three-star recruits in your rankings.
BH: Yeah, and a lot of high-level three stars, guys that might be on the cusp of making a bigger jump. That’s what’s pretty remarkable about this class. There’s five or six guys that could jump into that four-star status, and then it becomes a more top-heavy class.
JM: OK, who are some of those guys?
BH: The first two are (Bethel linebacker, UCLA commit) Ramzak Fruean and (O’Dea defensive lineman) Fameitau Siale. With Ramzak, it was his first year at Bethel last year, and he had the best player in the state on his team. Also, with what Zay did offensively, now Ramzak will be expected to have a similar impact. He’s a guy that’s got the length and size you want in a linebacker. He moved around a little bit last year, played some safety. Him focusing on linebacker will allow him to have a big senior year. The big thing with (Siale) has been health. Injuries stopped him as a sophomore, junior year he was good, but then has been nursing some things in the offseason again. Physically, he looks really good.
JM: Has anyone shot up in your rankings this offseason? Who’s made the biggest leap?
BH: The biggest one other than Schwerzel was (Archbishop Murphy athlete, Arizona commit) Henry Gabalis. Getting to see him more this spring — two of the top six players in the state are from Archbishop Murphy (the other being Wisconsin tight end commit Jack Sievers). Henry was the least touted between the three of him, (Boise State OT commit Hakeim Smalls) and Sievers. Now he might be the best of three. At the PLU team camp, he was probably the best all-around player I saw there that weekend.
JM: Is there anyone in this class you really like — anyone who is lower down the list and flying under the radar?
BH: It’s hard to say (Cashmere edge rusher, UNLV commit) Prin Fox is further down the rankings, but because he’s from Cashmere, there’s not a lot known about him. It was kind of a shock he picked UNLV. I thought for sure he was gonna end up at Boise State or Boston College. That was a steal for UNLV. (Eastlake linebacker, Colorado commit) Colby Johnson is another one. Phenomenal athlete. They’re in the right league for him to have a big jump. Eastlake is always a solid program, but they never really have the superstar player. He’s probably the best prospect they’ve had there, at least since Grady Robison. If he can have the fall that he had in the spring, as far as what he did testing wise, he’s a guy that can make that big jump. Colorado doesn’t recruit a lot of high school kids, and he’s the one they honed in on.
JM: Something interesting to me: Annie Wright just launched its football program recently and already has a Division I commit in Ta’a Malu (Washington). What should fans know about this defensive lineman from Tacoma?
BH: He’s only played one year of football, too. He’s still new to the game. He’s an upside play for Jedd Fisch’s staff. I wouldn’t expect Washington is expecting him to contribute in 2026 or even 2027. His older brother played at Idaho State. His thing was MMA or Jiu Jitsu, then he decided to play football and showed a natural ability. 1A football to Washington will be a big jump, but he’s got that strength, force, power you can look at as a blank canvas.
JM: What are your thoughts on the 2027 class? I remember when we talked last summer, you said it had the potential to be another special class. Is it still shaping up that way?
BH: Very much so. You’ve got three four-stars (O’Dea DL Tevita Nonu, Lincoln of Tacoma QB Sione Kaho, Eastside Catholic LB Liufau Loumoli). Then there are two or three guys on the cusp, with the potential of jumping in, guys like (Sumner WR) Braylon Pope, (Puyallup OL) Gecova Doyal. It may not have the depth right now of 2026, but it will. I like the top-end talent a lot better.
JM: Anything else you’d like to touch on?
BH: I just think after a couple down years at QB — the QB play in the state has been pretty mediocre since the Clay Millen, Sam Huard year. In 2026, it’s not great. But there are some bright spots in ‘27 and ‘28, making the next few years exciting. This is a fantastic defensive line class in 2026. For a region that doesn’t crank out a lot of good defensive linemen, for so many to come from the state is pretty remarkable. A lot of that is because 7on7 stuff is so popular in this state, but we’ve seen the addition of 5on5, more linemen stuff, so you’re seeing more development of linemen.
