Decision on Durfee Availability Will Be Made at Kickoff

The Husky edge rusher is dealing with a toe injury.

Zach Durfee comes after WSU's John Mateer in the Apple Cup. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Picture Zach Durfee and Jedd Fisch as two guys working for the same company, running into each other in the lunch room and making small talk.

They could have discussed the weather. The economy. The presidential election.

No, their noontime topic was the state of Durfee's injured toe and whether the sensitive appendage will permit the University of Washington edge rusher to play against Michigan in Saturday's game at Husky Stadium.

""I asked him today," Fisch said. "He was upstairs grabbing lunch and I said, 'How's it looking?' "

"I'm trying," was Durfee's response.

The Husky coach went on trying to sound optimistic, but cautioned that no one will know for sure until people prepare to run out on the field for the opening kickoff.

"I'm very hopeful that well have Duefee out on the field, but I do think it will come down to 4:33 if we're kicking off at 4:34," Fisch said of the potential all clear for his stalwart player.

Battling a toe injury, if not a pair of them, the 6-foot-5, 256-pound Durfee missed the Northwestern game the week before last, then started at Rutgers this past Friday, played 16 first-half snaps and was pulled from any further action in the 21-18 loss in New Jersey, unable to continue.

A healthy Durfee would go a long way to putting the Huskies (3-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) back in the win column after two defeats in their past three games.

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