Huskies notes: Zach Durfee, Jonah Coleman and a bunch of new assistants

Plus, Washington hired a salary cap guy.

SEATTLE — Zach Durfee just wants to get healthy.

As goal-setting goes, that’s it for the senior edge rusher, at least for now.

What else can he really say, considering what he’s endured since last spring?

An April elbow injury required surgery. As a result, Durfee was limited for part of training camp, but still began the season as a starting edge rusher. In UW’s second game, against Eastern Michigan, an offensive lineman fell on Durfee’s left big toe as he tackled a running back. It hurt, Durfee said, “but I just kind of bit my mouth guard a little harder and played through it.”

Indeed, he made his first 2.5 sacks as a Husky in that game, testament to the abilities touted now by two different coaching staffs. In terms of productivity, though, that was more or less the last you saw of Durfee in 2024. He played in the following week’s Apple Cup, sat out the Northwestern game and then started at Rutgers before, he said, his right big toe “kind of blew up a little bit.”

He figures it happened because he was compensating for the toe injury on his left foot. Durfee made it through 20 snaps against Michigan the following week, but missed UW’s next four games and lasted only nine snaps against UCLA.

“I was trying, and it just wasn’t really working,” Durfee said. “I would take a few weeks off and come back, and it still wasn’t working.”

He had surgery to repair the toe injury on his right foot and missed UW’s final three games. So Durfee sported a walking boot as he answered questions inside Touchdown Terrace during UW’s media availability earlier this month.

“I really just want to get healthy,” Durfee said, “and I think everything else will take care of itself. I’m not too worried. I know what to do when I’m out there, and I know how to do my job.

“Obviously, I want our team to do really well. I want to just try to win every game. That’s really my only goal.”

It says something about UW’s defensive turnover — and about Durfee’s potential — that even as a transfer who arrived in 2023 (and didn’t get to play that year), Durfee still is among the Huskies’ longer-tenured defensive players and a member of the team’s leadership council. He played only 140 snaps last season, yet UW returns just six defenders who played more, and only two, Isaiah Ward and Deshawn Lynch, who play edge rusher.

The position was lacking last season. Durfee’s health had something to do with that. You can see how the Huskies could have used Russell Davis II, too, after he racked up three sacks and a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in UW’s victory over UCLA … then sustained a season-ending injury in practice before the Oregon game.

The Huskies finished last season with 20 sacks. Durfee and Davis combined for 5.5 of them in two games. Assuming both return to full health, they could lead the pass-rushing efforts under first-year coordinator Ryan Walters.

“I’m a fan of him,” Durfee said of the new DC. “He seems like he wants to go dominate on the defensive side of the ball, and I’m a big fan of that.”

There were no portal deliberations this offseason, Durfee said. Rotten as his injury luck has been, the 2025 season still brings the prospect of some stability. He’ll be limited this spring, but hopes to be full-go by the summer.

“I wanted to stay here,” Durfee said. “I feel like I owe it to this place to be healthy and give them a good season and hopefully lead to some wins. This is the school that I came to, to play D1 football at. I wasn’t allowed to play, but I still got to experience the national championship (game), things of that sort.

“All the fans, all the coaches who put time into me — I want to be here.”

Jonah Coleman rushed for 1,053 yards last season and finished sixth in the Big Ten in yards per game. He scored 10 of UW’s 14 rushing touchdowns. He declined “more than 10” offers to transfer to other schools, he said, to stay at Washington, earn his degree and play for “the people that believed in me when no one else did.”

What does he want to show in his final college season?

“Got to have that breakaway,” said Coleman, who had 38 rushes of 10-plus yards last season, third-most in the Big Ten.

“I’m working on getting faster this offseason, more elusive, better jump cuts. Durable. Playing in the Big Ten is tough, so I’ve got to have a great offseason to prepare my body for that.”

The speed work entails resistance sprints and deceleration training. Coleman relies heavily on the expertise of UW’s strength and conditioning staff. “They watch a lot, and they see things that I don’t see,” he said.

“I work with Ben (Creamer, director of sports science) when it comes to cardio and trying to think when you’re tired,” Coleman said. “Ed (Thompson), that’s my speed guy, life guy. TO (Tyler Owens, director of strength and conditioning), obviously, been with him for a couple years, so he’s always going to have something for me, as far as hip mobility and flexibility. (Aaron) Brosz, he’s my rack coach, so he’s around me most of the time when I’m lifting and stuff.”

The offseason transfers of cornerback Tacario Davis, defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei and linebacker Jacob Manu mean there now are eight players on Washington’s roster who, like Coleman, originally signed as part of Arizona’s 2022 recruiting class. Coleman, cornerback Ephesians Prysock, receiver Kevin Green Jr., Russell Davis II and Ward followed coach Jedd Fisch for his first season at UW. Tacario Davis, Uiagalelei and Manu made the move after Arizona finished 4-8 under first-year coach Brent Brennan.

Unlike last year, all are on campus and working out ahead of spring practices. Fisch said UW will have about 85 scholarship players, total, available for spring.

“We’ve got a full team,” Coleman said. “This time last year, you guys know how it looked. This time last year, I wasn’t allowed to be in workouts with the team. Just being able to have a full year with the team and being able to connect with people, it’s great. We’re in a great place right now.”

Sure, the Huskies still need a linebackers coach to replace Robert Bala, who left after one season to become linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator at Florida. But UW has hired several other new assistants in recent days as Fisch continues to mold his staff in a way that aligns with the NCAA removing limits on who can coach players on the field.

In addition to the previously announced promotion of Aaron Van Horn from analyst to outside linebackers coach, the Huskies also have reportedly hired an assistant offensive line coach (Mike Brewster), an assistant quarterbacks coach (J.P. Losman) and a recruiting director, former Bellevue High star Marcus Griffin, to replace Josh Omura, who left to become executive director of player personnel at Arizona State.

UW also created a new position in its athletic department as a response to the House v. NCAA settlement, which, if approved in April, should go into effect July 1 and will permit schools to share up to $20.5 million with their athletes.

Cameron Foster, a longtime agent who graduated from UW and has represented several NFL players with local ties, has joined the department as senior director of contracts and cap management.

You’re likely to see more hires like this one across college athletics in the coming months. It’s widely assumed that at Power 4 schools like Washington, the football program will be allotted about $15 million of the department’s $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap (though the revenue sharing will take the form of NIL agreements). Just as NFL front offices include salary-cap experts, colleges are likely to hire staff dedicated to negotiating contracts and balancing the cap figure across the athletic department — and across a football roster of 85 or more players.

“We are truly at the beginning of a transformational period in college sports,” Foster said in a statement. “The complexities of negotiations, cap management and revenue share have added challenges to the traditional athletic department, and I am excited to join a department leading the way on cutting-edge approaches to turning challenges into opportunities. I look forward to partnering with our leadership, our coaches, and our student-athletes to ensure that we are maximizing our opportunities to compete for championships.”

Along with Pro Football Hall of Famer Kenny Easley, Foster co-founded Foster & Easley Sports in 1989, and founded Reign Sports Management in 2016 before becoming senior vice president at Steinberg Sports and Entertainment in 2021. According to UW’s release, Foster has represented former Huskies such as Vita Vea, Kaleb McGary, Nick Harris, Myles Bryant and Napoleon Kaufman.

Brewster, the new assistant o-line coach, played at Ohio State before an NFL career that included time in Jacksonville, Miami and New Orleans; he played for the Jaguars in 2013, the first of Fisch’s two seasons there as offensive coordinator. He’ll assist Michael Switzer, a former analyst who was first promoted to assistant o-line coach and then to o-line coach following Brennan Carroll’s departure for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Losman spent eight seasons as a pro quarterback, including stints with the Bills, Raiders, Seahawks (in 2010, with Fisch as his position coach) and Dolphins. He spent the last three seasons in a personnel role with Oklahoma and previously was an analyst at Clemson. He’ll assist Jimmie Dougherty, UW’s quarterbacks coach who was recently promoted to offensive coordinator.

Griffin, who played defensive line at Arizona and Central Michigan, spent last season as Cal’s assistant director of player personnel. At UW, he’ll work under director of player personnel Matt Doherty.

The Huskies also reportedly plan to hire Korey Rush, defensive line coach at Portland State, as an assistant defensive line coach. He would work under d-line coach Jason Kaufusi.

UW previously hired Chris Petrilli as its special-teams coordinator. Petrilli held the same role at Purdue last season. Jordan Paopao, UW’s tight ends coach, held the title of special-teams coordinator last season.

While coaching staffs still can have only 11 coaches recruit off campus — the head coach plus the “main” 10 assistants, so to speak — there no longer is any limit on the number of coaches who may work with players at practice. That’s why you’re seeing so many more assistant position coaches given specific titles, rather than being broadly categorized as analysts or quality-control assistants.

Such a position makes particular sense for someone like Petrilli. Special teams are a crucial part of the game, obviously, but, like Paopao last season, special-teams coaches often take on those duties in addition to coaching an offensive or defensive position. And because recruiting duties are far less significant for special teams, it makes sense for that position to be held by someone who doesn’t need to recruit off campus.

— Christian Caple, On Montlake

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