Start Your Engines: Hatchett Opens Game As Husky OL Faster Than Most

Roger Rosengarten and Troy Fautanu didn't do this as soon as this UW stalwart.

Landen Hatchett plays offensive guard and center for the UW. / Skylar Lin Visuals

It all began in the middle of Iowa, during a forgettable outing for the University of Washington football team, while he manned his alternate position.

Two Saturdays ago, Landen Hatchett started his first game for the Huskies.

This landmark moment for the 6-foot-2, 310-pound sophomore from Ferndale, Washington, came at left offensive guard, not center, which is his preferred position. Yet this proved memorable because he made it happen during his second season in his 16th overall UW game appearance -- superseding the college football beginnings of all but one of his former teammates who famously formed the nation's top offensive line in 2023.

"Yeah, it is cool to get out there and, you know, play earlier," Hatchett said this week while preparing to face unbeaten Indiana on Saturday, "but it's not something I think about really."

However, for those of us who do mull over these sort of ground-breaking accomplishments, he started earlier for the UW than tackle Troy Fautanu, the eventual NFL first-rounder for the Pittsburgh Steelers who didn't open a Husky game until his third season in his eighth appearance.

Hatchett got out there as a first-teamer well before tackle Roger Rosengarten, the Baltimore Ravens' second-round selection last April and now a starter for his pro team, and someone who waited until his third Husky season and sixth game played to move into the opening lineup.

He entered the Husky lineup faster than guard Julius Buelow, now at Mississippi, who didn't become a first-teamer until his third UW season and fifth game played, and guard Nate Kalepo, also at Ole Miss, who had to wait until his fourth Husky season and 14th game appearance to draw an opening assignment.

Hatchett even beat out his brother, now at Oklahoma, with Geirean patiently waiting until his fourth UW season and 17th game to start for the first time.

Demond Williams Jr. calls the signals with Landen Hatchett at center against Eastern Michigan. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The younger Hatchett became a first-teamer faster than every one of his teammates from last year with the exception of Parker Brailsford, who likewise started during his second season in the UW program and did so in the very first college game he played, before transferring to Alabama this year, where he was named as the first-team preseason AP All-America center.

Yet there is a caveat when comparing these two promising players and former teammates -- Brailsford redshirted as a true freshman and didn't appear in any UW games in 2022, while this Hatchett never once thought about redshirting and got on the field right away in his first season, entering nine games as a reserve.

Oh, and it should be noted that Hatchett did all of this Husky ladder climbing while recovering from a major knee injury and subsequent surgery, something none of his peers had to deal with, and he became a starter just 10 months after undergoing the knife.

Landen Hatchett celebrates a UW victory with a postgame selfie. / Skylar Lin Visuals

The extra-thick and notably athletic Hatchett is destined to be one of the great ones for the UW. A fast career start, such as his, is always a true barometer of big things to come.

Just imagine what might happen when he takes over at center in 2025 as promised by Husky coach Jedd Fisch. The lineman says he's just eager to please and settle in anywhere, but he finds his calling in snapping the football.

"I would say I'm most comfortable playing center because I played all four years of high school at center and I've taken a lot of snaps here at center," Hatchett said. "But any of the three interior positions I'm happy to play."

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