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Inside The Huskies

Huskies Choose 7 Game Captains for Coming Season

Demond Williams Jr. and Landen Hatchett are repeat selections from last year.
Dan Raley|
Landen Hatchett has been named as a game captain for the second consecutive season.
Landen Hatchett has been named as a game captain for the second consecutive season. | Dave Sizer photo

Twenty minutes before Wednesday's practice began, as University of Washington football players were filing into Husky Stadium, the school on social medai released the leaders for the coming season -- game captains, seven in all.

Four for offense, three on defense.

Two repeat choices from the year before.

The newly elected captains are offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi, defensive tackle Elinneus Davis, center Landen Hatchett, linebacker Jacob Manu, offensive guard John Mills, safety Alex McLaughlin and quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

Hatchett and Willams held this position of authority in 2025.

With so many selected, typically four come out to meet with the officials for the opening toss and deal with them throughout the game, and everyone rotates into this role thereafter. The current seven are one more than last season.

All are starters and hoping to be available for the season opener against Washington State in the Apple Cup at home on Sunday, Sept. 6.

Hatchett, however, is still trying to get medically cleared after breaking his wrist against Illinois last season, having surgery and enduring a long rehabilitation. The 6-foot-3, 315-pound fourth-year player has played in 31 Husky games, starting 15 of them.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Williams returns for his second season as the UW's full-time starting quarterback and has opened 15 games overall, including his freshman year.

Of the new captains, the 5-foot-10, 225-pound Manu, considered the leader of the defense, takes on this role even though he's appeared in just five Husky games after coming off a knee injury suffered when he played for Arizona.

While in just his second season, the 6-foot-6, 325-pound Mills already had taken on a fairly involved leadership position, regularly pulling aside and encouraging even the most obscure teammate on the roster and rushing to congratulate players for big plays.

Mills was an 11-game starter as a freshman at guard and tackle, missing two games because of a high-ankle sprain.

Demond Williams Jr. walks out of Husky Stadium on game night.
Demond Williams Jr. walks out of Husky Stadium on game night. | Dave Sizer photo

McLaughlin, who was named All-Big Ten honorable mention last season after transferring to the UW from Northern Arizona, was a 13-game starter in his first season in Montlake. Counting both schools, he's started 36 college games.

The 6-foot-3, 320-pound Davis returns as a 10-game starter and likewise has assumed a fairly vocal role with the defense.

Finally, the 6-foot-7, 322-pound Azzopardi is back for his third season as a UW starter after transferring from San Diego State. He's started 24 UW games, 30 overall as a college football player.

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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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