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Landen Hatchett Appears Ready to Play Against Iowa

The Husky center was injured nearly a year ago against Illinois.
Landen Hatchett shows a little emotion in the 2025 Apple Cup.
Landen Hatchett shows a little emotion in the 2025 Apple Cup. | Dave Sizer photo

Enjoying a positive yet short week of practice for the University of Washington football team, senior center Landen Hatchett was upgraded from questionable to probable on Thursday's Big Ten availability list.

Which means the 6-foot-3, 315-pound Hatchett should be ready to play against Iowa on Friday night at Husky Stadium.

Similarly, the two-time captain and 15-game starter will obtain medical clearance just about two weeks shy of a year since he broke his wrist against Illinois, a much longer recovery than anyone involved expected. He was subjected to a pair of surgeries.

Also, UW freshman defensive back Jeron Jones, with a combined three previous starts at nickelback and cornerback, was ruled out against the Hawkeyes (4-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) with an unspecified injury possibly suffered in last weekend's 25-21 loss at USC.

Still to be determined is whether or not the Huskies (3-2, 0-2) will start Hatchett and how much he'll play after such a long layoff.

Jedd Fisch and his coaching staff suggested there might be multiple changes in who plays where across the UW offensive line based in large part on Hatchett's return and John Mills' expected move from starting left guard to left tackle.

Without Hatchett, the Huskies have struggled mightily to get a rushing attack going, averaging 109 yards per game, and have failed to properly protect quarterback Demond Williams Jr., permitting 12 sacks over the past two games alone.

If Hatchett does indeed move directly into the starter's role against Iowa, that would free up Kolt Dieterich to move from center to one of the starting guard spots.

A Sam Houston State transfer, the 6-foot-6, 305-pound Dieterich started the first five games as Hatchett's replacement after never playng the position before and the UW coaching staff remains very high on his ability.

Should Mills move to left tackle, it would mark his third different position up front in which he has been a starter. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound sophomore has opened in 14 games at left guard over two seasons plus two outings at right tackle, the latter as an injury replacement in 2025 for Drew Azzopardi.

What remains to be seen, if a change is made at left tackle, is what happens to freshman Kodi Greene, who started the first five games but sat out more than half of last weekend's USC loss. His coaches have suggested he might turn up guard.

While the Huskies generally received good news, Iowa starting quarterback Hank Brown remains questionable for Friday's game with a shoulder injury.

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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.