Zach Durfee Passes Tough Guy Test for Huskies So Far

The edge rusher from Kalen DeBoer's alma mater is getting acclimated at the UW.

Zach Durfee has a point-blank personality, close-cropped hair, a diamond-shaped earring and a thick, black tattoo running down his right forearm resembling a Y. 

In another time, he would be a hardened ranch hand on that ever popular cable TV show "Yellowstone," getting branded forever and ready to fight anyone who comes asking for trouble.

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Instead, Durfee is a new University of Washington edge rusher and another one of Kalen DeBoer's extra crafty player acquisitions, pulled from the lower-level University of Sioux Falls, a Midwest football hub that has accommodated both of them in launching their careers.

With three national championships, DeBoer is USF's greatest football coach. Durfee, who left for a Power 5 school after just one season at the NCAA Division II school, could end up as one of the most talented guys to pull on a Cougars uniform.

"Durfee is going to have the physical piece and just the speed and size combo that we're really looking for," DeBoer said.

The coach was tipped off to this kid who arrived at his old school as a tight end after playing quarterback in high school, and was converted into a disruptive, high-motor defender, earning him a Pac-12 shot.

"I've always just believed in myself," said Durfee, who sat out Monday's practice with minor ailment. "When I step back and think about it, it's pretty surreal."

Zach Durfee makes contact in a spring drill in Husky Stadium / Skylar Lin Visuals

The Huskies currently have a mad scramble to find players to back up accomplished starters Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui, both first-team All-Pac-12 recipients at some point in their careers with assorted All-America rewards.

Redshirt freshman Lance Holtzclaw is a speed rusher on the order of ZTF, looking to improve his run defense. Junior Sav'ell Smalls is better on the run than pass rushing. Sophomore Maurice Heims has shown more of a propensity to get to the quarterback.

Durfee, it appears, does both of these outside responsibilities really well. He just needs a game-day introduction to this higher level of football.

"It's just a matter of playing more snaps and seeing him grow," DeBoer said. "He's still young when it comes to his football life."

In Montlake, he's a long way from Sioux Falls, as well as his Minnesota roots. Yet there should be comfort in knowing the Yellowstone ranch, whether real and  fictional, is halfway between his former and current college football outposts.

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