Here's a Starting Husky Offensive Line to Consider

It's probably time to play the young guys more, if not open with them.

The UW offensive line watches as Indiana's Mario Landino (97) sacks Washington's Will Rogers (7). / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Evidence gathered at the scene was disturbing and incriminating. In a telltale photograph from Saturday's game shown above, University of Washington quarterback Will Rogers was captured going down hard for a third-quarter sack, getting manhandled while in the arms of Indiana's Mario Landino and Tyrique Tucker.

Worse yet was what appeared in the backdrop, where UW offensive linemen Soane Faasolo, D'Angalo Titialii and Enokk Vimahi, from left to right, watched helplessly as this college football mugging took place without being able to offer any discernible resistance, while teammate Landen Hatchett delivered a futile block.

Photographer Rich Janzaruk of the Times-Herald in Bloomington, Indiana, froze the moment in time with an image that seemed to pinpoint exactly why the Huskies came up a 31-17 loser on their latest venture into Big Ten country.

From the opening snap, the host Hoosiers were more physical and aggressive in the trenches, getting upfield to sack Rogers three times and force him into throwing a pair of interceptions -- all of which led Jedd Fisch and his staff to repeatedly insert different player combinations to come up with a line that proved more competitive.

"We were looking for something that was going to work," Fisch said.

When a season goes south -- and the Huskies have suffered consecutive lopsided losses to drop to 4-4 -- most coaching staffs are prone to start looking to the future and playing their younger guys more, which Fisch intimated might happen in the Indiana postgame.

"Those guys need opportunity, those guys need reps," Fisch said, referring in particular to Hatchett, Faasolo and Kahlee Tafai, all second-year Huskies. "Those guys need to see how good they can get."

Keeping that in mind, one radical lineup he might consider this weekend against USC would be the following: sophomore Drew Azzopardi at left tackle, freshman Paki Finau at left guard, Hatchett at center, redshirt freshman Zach Henning at right guard and Tafai at right tackle.

The 6-foot-7, 315-pound Azzopardi, the San Diego State transfer with 14 career starts at his two college stops, has been considered the Huskies' top tackle since spring football and played briefly on the left side until moving to the right. While he's had his own recent blocking issues, he's been a starter all season and has two more to go. It's time to move him back to the left, make him get comfortable coming out of a stance there and commit to him at the NFL money position, especially with Maryland transfer Max McCree, a four-game starter, out indefinitely with a dislocated thumb.

Finau, at 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, is a player for the future who might as well play now, considering what's happened to the veterans ahead of him at Indiana, with both Gaard Memmelaar and Enokk Vimahi needing to come out. Finau has put on 30 pounds. He's played in three games in a mop-up role, which gives him one more outing before losing his redshirt, and is need of a baptism.

The 6-foot-2, 310-pound Hatchett played at both right and left guard at Indiana in a reserve role, but he's the Huskies' center of the future. according to Fisch. Hatchett prefers the snapping position. He's appeared in 17 career games moving in and out of the three interior positions, recently started against Iowa and uniformly grades out higher than the others, including veteran D'Angalo Titialii in the middle. Why wait in installing Hatchett at center?

Henning, a 6-foot-5, 300-pounder, has played in 10 Huskies games in a reserve role over two seasons, including as a quasi tight end at that shorthanded position. His time for a promotion at guard could be now.

Finally, the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Tafai, who could stand to trim down by 5-10 pounds, split time at left tackle with Faasolo at Indiana, has appeared in four UW games and is just now launching his career. He doesn't seem to favor either side. He doesn't necessarily need to redshirt, with his next outing removing that possibility.

These guys are all fairly young players who need to be properly developed, but they might as well do it while on the job. More and more, the Huskies are playing for the future now.

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