Finding a UW Center or 2 for Spring Ball is Paramount for Huskies

New coaching staff offers a handful of names as possibilities for the crucial position.

Zach Henning runs on to the field at USC for last November's game. / David Sizer

With spring practice fast approaching, Jedd Fisch sat at a table in Touchdown Terrace, the exclusive field-level fan area in Husky Stadium's east end zone, and provided an update on the current state of his University of Washington football team.

Framed by bright yellow goal posts directly behind him, the new coach told a large media gathering on Wednesday how he has 79 players on scholarship, up from the 49 who greeted him when he replaced Alabama-bound Kalen DeBoer two months prior.

"It's been a crazy two months," Fisch said, citing what he termed was "enormous roster turnover," which is far from done.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of change this final go-around with the transfer portal opening April 15th and closing April 30th," the former Arizona leader said. "We'll deal wtih that when the time comes."

While insisting there is no UW depth chart at the moment, Fisch acknowledged that putting together a pair of offensive lines for the 15 practices ahead would be most challenging.

Counting scholarship players and walk-ons, the UW has just 12 offensive linemen at hand for spring ball, and only 10 who are healthy, with sophomore center Landen Hatchett and junior offensive guard Gaard Memmelaar still recovering from knee injuries.

Every position area on the team has obvious candidates with the exception of center, where the 6-foot-2, 310-pound Hatchett easily would be the leading candidate had he not been injured in practice leading up the Sugar Bowl and CFP semifinal game against Texas. He won't participate in contact drills this spring. Finding some replacements has been ongoing.

"At our first meeting, I walked in and said, 'Who plays center?' and a couple of guys put up their hands," new offensive coordiantor Brennan Carroll said. "I said, 'That's not right. Everybody put your hand up -- you're all playing center.' "

Providing possible candidates, Carroll mentioned 6-foot-5, 292-pound redshirt freshman Zach Henning from Centennial, Colorado, who appeared in two games at guard last season; 6-foot-2, 277-pound redshirt freshman Parker Cross, a walk-on from Seattle; and the newly signed 6-foot-2, 315-pound freshman Michael Levelle Watkins from Glendale, Arizona.

Fisch said the first spring practice will happen either next Tuesday or Wednesday, still to be determined, and his April workouts will begin at 3:30 p.m. rather than match the 9 a.m. practices DeBoer oversaw.

"We don't play any games at those times," Fisch said of the morning sessions.