Inside The Huskies

Max McCree Will Take His Chances in Transfer Portal

The offensive tackle played in 14 games and started eight for the Huskies.
Dan Raley|
Offensive tackle Max McCree will enter the transfer portal.
Offensive tackle Max McCree will enter the transfer portal. | Dave Sizer photo

Max McCree, a well-traveled offensive tackle, is back on the road again, with the two-year University of Washington player on Monday revealing his intentions in a social media post to enter the transfer portal.

The 6-foot-6, 302-pound Kansas City presumably will have a final season available to him after playing 14 games and starting eight for the Huskies, making a brief stop at Maryland and spending two years at the junior-college level.

McCree will be remembered for helping the UW overcome the total dismantlement of the 2023 Husky offensive line that was honored as the nation's best but had players either take early entry to the NFL or transfer to schools in the SEC. He becomes the 11th UW player who plans to enter the portal in this cycle.

This past season, he had the unique experience of starting as an injury replacement for left tackle Carver Willis at Maryland, going against a school he played for in 2022 in two games before returning home to go to work to support his parents.

He reappeared after missing the 2023 season and the Huskies took him.

"He's one of those guys you never unfollow on Twitter," said UW offensive-line coach Michael Switzer, who first encountered McCree at a camp in 2018. "I said, 'Oh my God, we need a tackle.' "

With his career a bit complicated, McCree didn't become eligible for the Huskies in 2024 until an hour before the second game of the season against Eastern Michigan.

He would play in seven games at left tackle and open five of them against Northwestern, Rutgers, Michigan, Iowa and Louisville in the Sun Bowl.

Max McCree drew his third UW start at left tackle against Michigan.
Max McCree drew his third UW start at left tackle against Michigan. | Skylar Lin Visuals

A hand injury on the opening series against the Hawkeyes forced him to miss five games before he was able to return for the bowl game.


This season, McCree served as a back-up until Willis went down against Ohio State and the player whose full name is Maximus opened ensuing game against Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan before he suffered a foot injury and was done for the season.

While left tackle is now open, McCree likely has heard UW coach Jedd Fisch practically guarantee that incoming 5-star recruit Kodi Greene will come in and open there next season.

At right tackle, senior Drew Azzopardi will return and become a three-year starter.

Even freshman sensation John Mills, who started most of the season at left guard, took a few turns at right tackle as a fill-in for an injured Azzopardi.

So McCree will head out into the college football unknown and look for greater opportunity to be a No. 1 tackle somewhere.

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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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