Inside The Huskies

Azzopardi Receives High PFF Grade, Presents UW Building Block

The San Diego State transfer is the only Husky tackle with playing experience.
Dan Raley|
Azzopardi Receives High PFF Grade, Presents UW Building Block
Azzopardi Receives High PFF Grade, Presents UW Building Block

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Washington Huskies

The University of Washington football team's six most experienced tackles went out the door following the national championship match-up, headed to the NFL, the transfer portal and out of the game.

None used up all of his college eligibility. One by one, they moved on and together left a couple of gaping holes in the Husky offensive line.

The role call of the departed tackles: senior Troy Fautanu and junior Roger Rosengarten, the starters, who entered the NFL Draft, and were a All-Pac-12 first-team selection and All-Pac-12  honorable-mention pick, respectively; sophomore Jalen Klemm and junior Samuel Peacock, who were the back-ups and transferred to Arizona State and chose to graduate and move on, respectively; and junior Geirean Hatchett, who played every position up front and transferred to Oklahoma, and junior Robert Wyrsch, who likewise ended his career after a season-ending injury.

In coach Kalen DeBoer's two-year stay in Montlake, tackle was one of the Huskies' two most reliable positions — quarterback Michael Penix Jr., Fautanu and Rosengarten were the only players to start all 28 games.

All of this tackle turnover has left fans freaking out as new coach Jedd Fisch scrambles to find some new muscle to protect the edges, get the Huskies ready to play a challenging Big Ten schedule and maintain some semblance of success following the UW's recent run to the College Football Playoff title game.

For now, everything at this position begins with San Diego State transfer Drew Azzopardi. 

"Can't wait to get to work," he posted on social media after Fisch was hired. "Bow down!"

Azzopardi hasn't played in a Husky game or even participated in a practice in Montlake, yet he's the only one on the roster who has any college game time at tackle — 15 appearances, including six starts.

The 6-foot-7, 305-pound sophomore, so long and lean for his role, similarly has a reputation for production that's starting to evolve, with Pro Football Focus recently ranking him ninth among the nation's top 10 graded transfers at offensive tackle.  

J.C. Davis, who transferred from New Mexico to Illinois, tops everyone on the PFF list with an 84.5 score, based on factors such as gap control, duration of pass-blocking efforts and even simply hitting the right opponent every time. Azzopardi posted a 68.2 score.

Understanding that Fautanu and Rosengarten would be NFL-bound, DeBoer's coaches went after Azzopardi hard. They offered him on Dec. 7, a day after he entered the transfer portal; received his commitment 12 days later and signed him on Dec. 22. He accompanied the Huskies to Houston and watched the national championship game on Jan. 8.

Fisch was able to keep Azzopardi from re-entering the portal following the Husky coaching change because they already knew each other. According to the big tackle from Pacifica, California, he chose the UW over Arizona and UCLA. He also received portal offers from Arizona State, Houston, Kentucky, Oregon State, Oregon State and UNLV.

"They were excited that I took my time and made an informed choice," Azzopardi told 247Sports of his family members' reaction to him picking the Huskies. "They really liked UCLA and Arizona, as well as the coaches there. They know how happy I was at San Diego State so they just want me to be happy at my new home."

Speaking of family, offensive line runs in the Azzopardi household. Drew's older brother, Nate, was both a starting guard and center, plus a team co-captain, as a 6-foot-2, 294-pound junior last season for a 9-4 Idaho team. Nate and Drew each wore No. 74 last season for their respective teams, a digit that's not readily available to the latter at the UW.

This Azzopardi, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining, chose to transfer because his coach, Brady Hoke, retired following last season, his offensive line began to split up with teammates transferring to Arizona State and Florida, and he apparently saw a bigger challenge for himself by playing in the Big Ten rather than the Mountain West Conference.

While Fisch has suggested he will sign multiple players from the portal in May to restore the greatly depleted UW offensive line, Azzopardi gives him a quality player to build around, someone who PFF will tell you already grades out well.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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