5 Husky Personnel Moves That Have Helped or Hurt

The UW will use a bye week to try get some of these people healthy.

Alphonzo Tuputala and Zach Durfee celebrate a defensive stop. / Skylar Lin Visuals

On a Saturday morning that required University of Washington football players to get out of bed and begin hitting people before lunchtime, the Huskies showed up in the middle of Iowa on Saturday without their most physical player.

Seven games in, junior edge rusher Zach Durfee still hasn't been able to launch his UW football career in a meaningful manner after dealing with NCAA red tape all last year, a fractured elbow in the spring and lately a lingering toe injury.

The fan base has seen so little of him, team followers can't be faulted if they wonder whether the 6-foot-5, 256-pound edge rusher is a figment of the imagination of two Husky coaching staffs and the media, who are the only ones to really see Durfee unleashed in practice.

As the UW season hits the pause button for a bye week, after the rebuild became much more visible following a 24-point loss to the Hawkeyes, we consider five personnel moves that have positively or negatively impacted the Huskies.

ZACH DURFEE

Durfee potentially is a 10-sack per season guy, but he has just 2.5. While the Minnesota native still shares the team lead, he's played in just two full games and parts of three others. With the bye week, the Huskies are hoping to use it to get him healthy. They need as much physicality as they can find around Montlake to close out against the likes of Penn State, USC, Oregon and others. The good news for the UW is Durfee could have as many as two more seasons to show what he's got. Launching his Husky career is vital for him in landing an NFL job some day.

JAYVON PARKER

Midway through spring ball, Jedd Fisch's staff looked at this Parker, one of a set of twins and one of a pair of Husky defensive tackles, and saw a starter. Then the 6-foot-3, 297-pound junior from Detroit got hurt. Working his way back this fall, Parker was on the verge of starting again, even grading out among the nation's top defensive linemen against Rutgers, when he tore an Achilles tendon in New Jersey. Parker went down in the fourth game, which means he could have two more seasons to play. Either way, the Huskies went into Iowa without two of their top defenders and more physical players in Parker and Durfee and couldn't rightly expect they wouldn't pay for that in some manner.

LANDEN HATCHETT

A little later than planned, the 6-foot-2, 310-pound Hatchett started his first Husky game -- at left guard against Iowa -- pulled a personnel-best 72 snaps and graded out as the team's top offensive lineman. From here on out, the sophomore should become a permanent fixture up front for the UW either at guard or center. Jedd Fisch has made it no secret that Hatchett is his snapper of the future, if not sooner. The starting role in Iowa would signify that Hatchett is all the way back from a knee injury suffered 10 months ago in a Sugar Bowl practice.

QUENTIN MOORE

This was supposed to be Moore's big season as a tight end, the one that made him an NFL prospect. After all, the 6-foot-4, 257-pound senior can block better than most at that position. However, he lasted just a quarter and a half before he got hurt in a freak play in the opener when a Weber State player ran off the sideline to tackle him, hitting Moore squarely in the knee. Should Moore sit out two more games, he might consider returning for yet another season and using the redshirt status that would be available to him. People will forever wonder -- had Moore been available -- whether the Huskies would have converted the fourth-and -goal play from the 1 and won the Apple Cup over Washington State had he been the lead blocker on that late option run.

MAX MCCREE

Out of the game for almost two full seasons, the Maryland and JC transfer dutifully had worked his way into football shape, adding 20-plus pounds to his frame, and started the past four games at left tackle. However, he lasted only a few plays at Iowa before dislocating a thumb and leaving the game for good, and it's unclear whether he's out for awhile or can resume playing by wearing some sort of protective club. Either way, Fisch's staff sees a lot of possibilities in using the 6-foot-5, 295-pound junior who brings a good mix of size and athleticism to the NFL money position.

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