Inside The Huskies

Huskies' Changing of the Guard Should Be An Upgrade

The UW should have plenty of reputable candidates to choose from.
Dan Raley|
Geirean Hatchet, left, is back to reclaim a UW starting job. He's shown here with Jalen McMillan and Troy Fautanu in 2023.
Geirean Hatchet, left, is back to reclaim a UW starting job. He's shown here with Jalen McMillan and Troy Fautanu in 2023. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

For the Sun Bowl, the University of Washington football team went with Enokk Vimahi and D'Angelo Titialii as its respective starting left and right offensive guards against Louisville, turning to a pair of journeymen.

Each was the third different player to open games at these positions during the season.

Each was uprooted from their previous offensive-line assignment by Landen Hatchett.

Neither player would finish the postseason game in El Paso in his original spot.

Formerly of Ohio State, Vimahi opened the UW's first eight games of the season as the starting right guard before giving way to Hatchett. The Sun Bowl marked his return to the opening lineup, only on the left side before he finished up at right guard.

Titialii, who transferred in from Portland State, was the Huskies' No. 1 center for a dozen games before he, too, stepped aside for Hatchett. In the Sun Bowl, he opened at right guard yet finished on the bench.

The point of showing all of this personnel shuffle was to demonstrate how unsettled the UW offensive line turned out last season, particularly at guard. It was not unlike a leaky roof, in which the coaches kept plugging holes.

With spring ball just five weeks away, Jedd Fisch recently spoke about the Huskies having 17 offensive linemen overall on scholarship available this time whereas it was just seven at times a year ago. He promised the competition and experience levels for this position group would be greatly elevated.

For that matter, guard should get a noticeable upgrade.

He also has a new offensive-line coach in Michael Switzer, who once was a 51-game starter at Ball State and got a tryout with the NFL's Buffalo Bills -- at offensive guard.

"Our offensive line is going to look extremely different," Fisch said.

Huskies offensive guard Geirean Hatchett (56) gets ready to play Michigan in the 2024 CFP national championship game.
Huskies offensive guard Geirean Hatchett (56) gets ready to play Michigan in the 2024 CFP national championship game. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

While the 6-foot-2, 310-pound Landen Hatchett has settled in at No. 1 center for next season after starting at both guard spots last season, the UW could open with an older Hatchett, Geirean, and one of its most promising young players, Paki Finau, at the guards.

The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Hatchett started four games for the Huskies at right guard in 2023 before transferring to Oklahoma last season, playing two games and starting once at left guard before suffering a season-ending biceps injury. He's back, healthy and considered a quality run blocker who was even used as an extra UW tight end in 2022.

Paki Finau had a productive year putting on more than 40 pounds as a freshman.
Paki Finau had a productive year putting on more than 40 pounds as a freshman. | Dan Raley

Finau, one of the Huskies' highest-rated players from their 2024 recruiting, class, lined up at left guard for the final three series of the Sun Bowl, two of which ended with touchdowns. At 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, he spent most of his first season getting ready for the future by putting on more than 40 pounds.

For a next wave of applicants, the Huskies might consider 6-foot-5, 300-pound sophomore Zach Henning, and 6-foot-5, 300-pound Champ Taulealea. Henning has appeared in 15 games in his career, even starting one in a dual tight-end formation. Taulealea comes with a reputation of being this year's Paki Finau.

For a third round of candidates, the UW could turn to 6-foot-2, 320-pound redshirt freshman Michael Levelle Watkins, who took part in spring ball a year ago and got a lot of early and valuable reps, and 6-foot-6, 320-pound freshman John Mills, another first-year player seemingly eager to get started.

For a fourth group of guards, Fisch's coaches might consider 6-foot-5, 307-pound redshirt freshman Davit Boyajyan, a Kalen DeBoer find and now with a year in the system, and newcomers such as 6-foot-6, 325-pound freshman Jack Shaffer and 6-foot-6, 295-pound freshman Jake Flores.

While Landen Hatchett has center all to himself, and the tackle positions are filled with veteran players such as Kansas State senior transfer Carver Willis, junior Maximus McCree, sophomore Soane Faasolo and junior Drew Azzopardi, all starters of varying degrees at the college level, guard promises to be a deep and competitive group.

For 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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