Inside The Huskies

Fisch Expects One or Two Freshmen OL to Play Right Away

This is a far cry from what the Husky football coach went through a year ago during spring football.
Dan Raley|
UW coach Jedd Fisch goes down the line, stopping at John Mills (72).
UW coach Jedd Fisch goes down the line, stopping at John Mills (72). | Skylar Lin Visuals

Every once in a while Jedd Fisch will say something that you just didn't expect.

For instance, following his fourth spring football practice on Tuesday, the University of Washington coach was quizzed about the large number of players competing for the starting job at right offensive guard, which involves no fewer than three players, including a freshman.

Which led to a follow-up question, this one about whether he expected any of his cauldron of newly arrived freshmen linemen to be ready to play this coming season.

Fisch not only gave an affirmative, he took it a step further by suggesting that some of them might do more than just play.

"I expect one of the freshmen, if not two, to be a siginficant contributor or a starter," the coach said without flinching. "That's what we do. We believe in that. We're going to play the best five. If one of those guys is it, they'll play."

Champ Taulealea comes out of his stance in Dempsey Indoor.
Champ Taulealea comes out of his stance in Dempsey Indoor. | Skylar Lin Visuals

If it's one freshman making a breakthrough, it's more than likely 6-foot-5, 330-pound Champ Taulealea from Milpitas, California, who began taking snaps with the No. 1 offense at right guard over the weekend is the guy. He's in competition with sophomore Zach Henning and senior Geirean Hatchett for that job.

If two are ready to jump in from the outset, put 6-foot-6, 320-pound John Mills from San Francisco in the mix. He's steadily pulled snaps at both guard spots, usually with the second unit so far.

Taulealea and Mills might be freshmen, but they look like medieval warriors, if not roadies in a rock band, with their extra-long hair flowing out of their helmets and down their backs, partially covering their jersey numbers.

"I think we have some great competition going really with Champ, with John Mills, with Zach Henning and with Geirean Hatchett," Fisch said. "We're really moving the guard position around."

What this means is it's only taken a week of spring practice for the Husky coaches to reaffirm what they already knew -- that they recruited really well in finding offensive linemen from the 2025 class.

John Mills shows his mobility in Dempsey Indoor.
John Mills shows his mobility in Dempsey Indoor. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Other freshmen getting a good look on the offensvie line are 6-foot-6, 325-pound Jack Shaffer from Bismarck, North Dakota, and 6-foot-5, 295-pound Jake Flores from Mission Viejo, California, though the latter likely needs more size to before he'll get into games.

The Huskies hope to use all of these guys eventually, but as Fisch points out some just aren't going to wait for their turn to play.

A year ago, the UW was in somewhat desperate situation with just seven scholarship offensive linemen available for spring ball. This time, it's more than double that, apparently including some precocious freshmen.

"It's unique from last year," Fisch said, "seeing all the competition."

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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