UW Seniors Durfee, Fowler Expected Back For First Big Ten Road Test at Rutgers

When the Washington Huskies take the field Friday night at Rutgers for their first road trip as a Big Ten football program they'll do so with a pair of veterans who missed the conference opener against Northwestern.

During his Monday press conference UW coach Jedd Fisch said senior edge rusher Zach Durfee and senior linebacker Drew Fowler are expected to be available for defensive coordinator Steve Belichick and special teams coordinator Jordan Paopao against the Scarlet Knights, the latter making his return after being out the last three weeks due to injury.

Durfee, a 6-foot-5, 256-pound Minnesota native, started the first two games against Weber State and Eastern Michigan and played a significant role against Washington State before missing last Saturday's game against the Wildcats due to an injury.

The Husky sack leader, who registered 2.5 sacks over the first three games of the season, appeared on the sideline with a boot on, though he didn't appear limited by the injury in a way that would indicate he could miss significant time.

Fowler, a 6-foot-1, 222-pound sixth-year senior, has been a key contributor on special teams, an area where UW has especially struggled through the first four games with the unit allowing 28.21 yards per kick return, which ranks 126th out of 131 teams in the country.

Fisch also noted that junior Anthony Ward, a standout on special teams for the UW coach while he was at Arizona, should return against the Scarlet Knights to add one more veteran to the mix.

While the Huskies haven't allowed a special teams touchdown in 2024 they've given up the most total kick return yards (395) among FBS programs, and their 98.8 kick return yards per game isn't much better at four-most, just below Western Michigan (112 yards), Louisiana-Lafayette (113 yards) and Boise State (117.7 yards).

"We're working extra hard at it this week," Fisch said. "I know coach [Greg] Schiano is a fantastic special teams' coach, that's kind of what he's known for. So, we're going to work very hard. We've added periods in special teams in practice this week for our coverage units, as well as our kick units, and we're going to see how [good we can be]."

Through three games Rutgers has made just two kick returns with an average of 19 yards per return with nearly the same average on punt returns (19.5) on two punts.

With the return of Fowler and Ward, Fisch expressed optimism with the presence of the veterans for the special teams unit.

"It looks as if we're going to get three of our best special teams players back this week as well, which should help."