UW No. 1 Line Appears Solid, Back-Ups Aren’t Bad Either

One of the glaring drawbacks of an FBS coaching change, as the University of Washington football program painfully found out in 2024, is you don’t easily replace an offensive line if all of those guys decided to leave, too.

In that case, Jedd Fisch’s staff came in and tried to patch things together with redshirt freshmen who weren’t ready to play and other teams’ older hand-me-downs, and just hoped for the best.

The Huskies now have a projected No. 1 offensive line that, on paper, stands up well in size and experience when compared to most others across the Power 4 conferences.

Kodi Greene, John Mills, Landen Hatchett, Champ Taulealea and Drew Azzopardi, from left tackle to right tackle, each are 315 to 344 pounds and either highly experienced or highly acclaimed approaching the coming season.

Yet another strong indicator of the UW’s improved play up front is the second-unit O-line, the next five, which is a blend of battle-tested players ready when needed and youthful job candidates trying to play into their bigger bodies.

“We have oustanding depth behind it,” Husky coach Jedd Fisch said of his No. 1 line.

Collectively, these projected back-ups bring 40 starts to the mix, with Sam Houston State junior transfer Kolt Dieterich and seventh-year senior Geirean Hatchett, both offensive guards, conceivably capable of starting this season.

The 6-foot-6, 295-pound Dieterich drew 18 game-opening assignments over the past two seasons for his Conference USA Team.

However, he was held out of contact for all 15 UW spring practices because of some undisclosed injury he dealt with.

The 6-foot-4, 306-pound Hatchett, the older of the two brothers, actually is the only returning Husky starter from 2025 who opened all 13 games. He has 18 career starts, including one at Oklahoma in 2024.

Yet he got hurt in the second UW spring practice in April while subbing in at center for his brother Landen, which set him back some while entering his final college season.

Hatchett could still unseat Taulealea, or Dieterich might do that, or Taulealea could prove immovable after a full spring of starting at right guard.

At No. 2 left tackle is the 6-foot-8, 320-pound Faasolo, who’s some 15 pounds lighter from winter workouts. As a redshirt freshman, he was a four-game starter in that position in 2024 and one of three previously untested players who opened at left tackle.

While the others transferred out, Faasolo is working hard to get another shot at becoming a game-opening player again.

The rest of the second unit line is filled out by a pair of redshirt freshmen in 6-foot-5, 305-pound center Jake Flores and 6-foot-7, 326-pound right offensive tackle Justin Hylkema.

Flores took over as the No. 1 center for the final 13-plus practices, with both Hatchetts in recovery from their different ailments.

That should give him a chance to start over the ball in 2027.

As for Hylkema, he has the best nickname — Moose — among the big boys doing all the blocking and he’s being developed at a leisurely pace.

Hylkema and Flores’ game experience involves only the LA Bowl to end last season.

At times, Moose shared the No. 2 right tackle spot with a young bear cub in 6-foot-7, 356-pound freshman Dominic Harris, who is the heaviest player on the roster.