Former Maryland OL could start for Washington this weekend

Ahmed Ghafir
6 days ago
3 min read

Head coach Jedd Fisch will lead the Washington Huskies on a cross-country trip on Thursday before practicing locally on Friday and facing Maryland on Saturday for a 3:30 PM kickoff on BTN. While safety Rahshawn Clark is “good to go” on Saturday, Fisch will hope to do so with two key players available after team captain and fifth-year edge Zach Durfee left the game during the second quarter of Saturday’s loss vs. Ohio State, while sixth-year left tackle Carver Willis exited the game ahead of the second half.

Fisch said “we’re still waiting to get some final evaluations from the doctors” when asked about the status of both Willis and Durfee. If Willis isn’t available, Maryland may see a familiar face back in SECU Stadium: OL Max McCree.

McCree signed with Maryland out of Iowa Central CC in the 2022 class before playing in two games in 2022, his lone season with the program. The 6-foot-6 then returned to Iowa Central in 2023 before arriving at Washington in the summer of 2024, just prior to the start of the Jedd Fisch era, where he started five games in year one with the Huskies.

“[He] had a couple junior college stops, had to not play football for a while to help take care of his family and his mom then brought him back,” Fisch said of McCree. “I think that where he’s at now, he was actually playing at a really good level before his injury a year ago. He was going to be our starting left tackle for the remainder of the season once he was able to get cleared but unfortunately against Iowa, he got hurt. He came back, ready to go, had a really, really good camp and he was never discouraged by having Harper here. It actually helped him get better. Carver is still going to continue to fight to get back and play and Max is going to be ready if Carver can’t and he’ll be ready to go as long as Carver can’t.”

McCree has appeared in every game for Washington in 2025 as the Huskies have allowed 12 sacks through four games, while Fisch noted “we’ll go with Max to start most likely” when asked about other candidates to replace Willis.

"It's Max and Soane [Faasolo] are competing for that left tackle job if Carver can't go. And then we also have some flexibility. We have John Mills, played left tackle in high school. Drew [Azzopardi] can always slide over if we choose. We have the ability to slide Paki [Finau] in certain places. We have the ability to slide Champ [Taulealea] in at guard if you move someone over to tackle. I feel we're in a much different position than we were a year ago with our offensive line. We have much more flexibility in terms of personnel. Max started against Michigan, had a really good game. Max came in against Ohio State and played really well. If we do go - If Carver can't make it - we'll go with Max to start most likely and then we'll see how the rest of the guys do during practice during the week but feel good about where we are."

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