Inside The Huskies

UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Hatchett Could Be Huskies' Next Great Center

The highly regarded freshman switched over from guard this past spring.
Dan Raley|
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Hatchett Could Be Huskies' Next Great Center
UW Roster Review, No. 0-99: Hatchett Could Be Huskies' Next Great Center

University of Washington football coaches never seem to recruit centers anymore. They just improvise. They bring in versatile offensive linemen with impressive credentials at multiple positions, pick one out and groom him for the job.

They did this with Luke Wattenberg, and with Nick Harris and Shelton Coleman before him. 

These guys were guards or tackles, or both, who found an instant liking to forming the huddle, making calls on the line and snapping the ball.

Geirean Hatchett is next in this Husky center assembly line.

A 6-foot-4, 300-pound freshman from Ferndale, Washington, he spent the recent spring practice backing up Wattenberg at center after first reporting a year ago as an offensive guard.

He appears to have taken to this new assignment much like the other veterans did — suddenly envisioning a more direct route to the NFL.

Where Hatchett differs from his Husky predecessors is he arrived with one of the biggest recruiting reputations of any offensive lineman in quite some time, including Trey Adams, Kaleb McGary and Jaxson Kirkland.

Hatchett settled on his final college destination after narrowing his unlimited list of suitors to Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Stanford and the UW. Earlier, he toured football shrines such as Alabama and Michigan. 

Going down the roster in numerical order, this is another of our post-spring assessments of all of the Husky talent at hand, gleaned from a month of observations, as a way to keep everyone engaged during the offseason.

Hatchett wears No. 56, which he shares with his defensive opposite, walk-on redshirt freshman inside linebacker Ruperake Fuavai. Nick Harris proudly wore this digit in his time in Seattle and still has it as he heads into his second NFL season with the Cleveland Browns.

One of the attractions to Geirean Hatchett is his exceptional natural strength. While part of the UW program for just a year, he finished among the team leaders in the front squat, hoisting up 415 pounds.

Hatchett arrived with one of the largest and most impressive classes of offensive linemen delivered to the UW in some time, joined by peers Myles Murao, Roger Rosengarten, Gaard Memmelaar and Samuel Peacock. 

Murao received a trial at center last fall, but worked at offensive guard during the recent spring practice which is the opposite of what Hatchett did. Mostly, it's just a matter of players finding the right position fit.

"For the most part those five guys have played together," UW offensive-line coach Scott Huff said, "whether it's Myles at center or Geirean Hatchett at right guard, and now Geirean is at center and Myles is at right guard, and Roger's played all over, and Sam's played at right tackle."  

Huff said there's been no purposeful intent to keep those five linemen altogether, that it's just worked out that way.

He envisions more depth-chart separation in the coming fall as some of these guys try to beat out the older players ahead of them and strive for playing time. 

Whereas Rosengarten got a taste of game time last fall, Hatchett and the three others are still waiting to make their college debuts. It shouldn't be long now. Competition and/or contingency plans should get them on the field.

"You'll start seeing those guys move and trickle through," Huff promised. "Hopefully it's not because of injuries, but we have to be prepared for that."

Once the highly regarded Hatchett enters the Husky starting lineup, presumably when  sixth-year senior center Luke Wattenberg graduates, he won't be coming out.

Hatchett's 2021 Outlook: Projected backup center

UW Service Time: None

Stats: None

Individual Honors: Not yet

Pro prospects: 2025 NFL first-round draft pick

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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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