Inside The Huskies

College Football Settlement Will Enable Durfee to Reclaim Lost Season

The Husky edge rusher actually could have two more years to play beyond this fall.
Dan Raley|
Zach Durfee could have two additional seasons left to play.
Zach Durfee could have two additional seasons left to play. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Zach Durfee is listed as a senior on the latest University of Washington football roster, but in the ever-changing world of the college game the 6-foot-5, 255-pound edge rusher from Minnesota is anything but that.

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department, as it takes the NCAA to task for antitrust violations, disclosed that as part of the negotiated settlement players who had to sit out a season for transfer reasons and are still active would get that year back.

This benefits Durfee, who was forced to sit out 13 of the Huskies' 15 games last season until he was enrolled at the UW for a full academic year after transferring from Division II Sioux Falls. Once eligible in late December, he played briefly for the Huskies against Texas in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day in New Orleans.

A projected starter for this coming season with potential star quality, Durfee was aware during the recently completed spring football practice that he was nowhere near the end of his college football career. In fact, he surmised he had two more seasons available to him.

"There's a chance I could get last year and have an extra year and maybe even another one with COVID stuff," he said after an April practice.

Durfee was prevented from playing in UW games right away after the NCAA deemed that he was a double transfer, a decision the school appealed, and a move that was rejected.

During the COVID pandemic, the defensive standout briefly enrolled at North Dakota State, but didn't play football, and then transferred to Sioux Falls, where he redshirted in 2021 and played in 11 games the following season.

As it stands, Durfee, who is recovering from a spring practice elbow injury, will play this coming season for the UW and could have as many as two more available to him after that.

However, if he's as good as the previous and current Husky coaching staffs suggest, this all could be moot, with Durfee playing just one full season for the UW and entering the NFL Draft next April.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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