UW Spring Position Breakdown: Offensive Line

All-in-all, first-year OL coach Michael Switzer did an excellent job bringing in talent and veteran experience, quickly developing that young talent, and finding opportunities to let that talent shine while stabilizing a group that was the single biggest concern of UW fans at the outset of Jedd Fisch’s tenure. With two full recruiting/transfer classes since the initial transition offseason, and the first since Switzer took over this group, the question of this year’s Spring Practices shifts from ‘can we get there?’ to ‘just how far can we go?’

Roster Situation

Departures:

• Carver Willis (Exhausted Eligibility/NFL)
• Paki Finau (Transfer – BYU)
• Zachary Henning (Transfer – Arizona)
• Davit Boyajyan (Transfer – Cal Poly)
• Maximus McCree (Transfer – WSU)

At first glance, the Huskies lost a lot of talent in one offseason, and even more so considering just how positive the consensus outlook appears to be for this group. Willis was a rock solid starter at left tackle, and he will be missed. However, at least his expiring eligibility made him an expected departure with a clear plan for replacement.

Paki Finau and Zachary Hennings’ departures also hurt given their solid performances in extended playing time this past season, as well as their several years of remaining eligibility. Add on the fact that they landed at solid Power 4 programs, and casual fans might wonder if there might’ve been some roster management malpractice. However, a deeper look at the roster paints a slightly different story. With younger talent breaking into the rotation towards the end of the season, plus the likely return of Landen Hatchett to the starting center position once healthy, the path to starting snaps at the iOL spots were murky at best for those two. The preference is always to keep promising players to build depth, but their departures seem like business decisions on both sides of the diverging paths.

From an outside perspective, Davit Boyajyan and Max McCree’s departures are similar to Finau and Hennings’. However, I also wonder if the staff encouraged them to explore other options given their even murkier path to playing time. Both spent two seasons with the program after joining during Fisch’s transitional class of signees. McCree got a brief look as a starting option in 2024 but then dealt with injuries that cut that opportunity short. Boyajyan, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be in serious contention for playing time while on Montlake and may find better opportunities at the FCS level. Both will be missed as depth pieces but don’t appear to seriously impact near term plans.

Returning Starters*: John Mills (LG), Landen Hatchett (C), Geirean Hatchett (RG) Drew Azzopardi (RT)

Returning Backups*: Champ Taulealea (RG), Soane Faasolo (RT)

Other Returnees: Jake Flores, Lowen Colman-Brusa, Jack Shaffer, Justin Hylkema, Elishah Jackett

*Players & positions approximately based on the 2025 LA Bowl 2-deep depth chart

This is where fans can really start to get excited about this group. As I mentioned earlier, Switzer made it a point to get lots of players into the rotation by the end of the season. Combine that with all the mixing-and-matching from the 2024 season, and we find ourselves in the unique situation. Despite having lost three key members from last year’s group while still being able to return the majority of the 2-deep, all of whom have extended playing time and/or starting experience under their belt AND were either recruited to UW out of high school (yeah I know not Azzopardi, but he’s a returning multi-year starter at UW so close enough). Long story short, it’s starting to feel like a group that’s reestablished a talent and development pipeline that can weather departures and still build talented depth at a position that is notoriously hard to rebuild quickly.

This shouldn’t be a huge surprise to fans that have been listening to me point repeatedly to Fisch’s Arizona OL rebuild. Like at Arizona, Fisch’s staff has prioritized recruiting college-ready bodies at OL and finding ways to get them on the field early. In their first full recruiting class, they ran that strategy to huge results once again. John Mills was a day 1 contributor on the OL and earned himself a freshman All-American selection, and Champ Taulealea is going to give Geirean Hatchett tough competition for reps at RG after getting on the field as a true freshman. Rarely do you see one, let alone two true freshmen get playing time on a solid Power 4 offensive line, so one can only assume that they’ll raise the ceiling for this group as they continue to grow and develop in year two.

As for the rest of the group, it seems like Soane Faasolo is the only lineman who has locked down a spot in the second string, having settled into a back up OT role. As a fourth year junior, Faasolo has seen extensive action at left and right tackle over the last two seasons with mixed results. Given the battle at left tackle, I expect Faasolo to be the 2nd or 3rd option off the bench at OT, behind whomever loses the LT battle and possibly Mills kicking out to tackle. Flores, Colman-Brusa, Shaffer, Hylkema, and Jackett round out the group battling for positioning on the 2-deep. Early practice reports suggest that Flores is being repped at center and getting significant snaps there in place of the injured Landen Hatchett. Colman-Brusa and Geirean Hatchett have also gotten reps at center to build out the contingency plan, but I get the sense that Flores is the preferred succession plan at the position. Shaffer and Hylkema are the two redshirt freshmen that I’m keeping an eye out for from a development perspective. We haven’t heard much about them since their arrival on Montlake, and with both listed at 6-6+ & 320+, there was little certainty about where the staff saw their best fit (iOL or OT). The tackle portion of the room is getting a bit crowded, but 6-6 is still a really tall interior player. Early indications are that Shaffer is getting reps inside while Hylkema is getting reps opposite from Faasolo at OT.

Spring Practice Arrivals (Position, Arrival From, Rating, Height, Weight):

• Kolt Dieterich (OT, Sam Houston State, 4-star, 6-6, 295)
• Kodi Greene (OT, HS, 5-star, 6-6, 321)
• Dominic Harris (OT, HS, 3-star, 6-7, 356)

Finally, we have the newcomers, and it’s clear that the staff made every effort to make sure we are well stocked at our book end positions. Like last off season, the staff was very selective in their approach to transfer linemen, and Kolt Dieterich was the only transfer being added to this group. The fourth year junior transfer from Sam Houston State brings a lot of the same value that Carver Willis’ transfer brought the group last year. He’s an experienced starter with either experience or upside at both left and right tackle who could step in immediately to provide starting-caliber play or a high-end swing tackle off the bench. This year’s transfer portal options were pretty thin, and while Dieterich is a really good option, he does come with more question marks than Willis given the much bigger jump in competition from Conference USA than the Big 12.

Fortunately for Switzer, we also have a lot more competition for the left tackle spot than last year. The marquee player in UW’s 2026 recruiting class, 5-star OT Kodi Greene, will give Dieterich a huge push for the starting spot. Jedd Fisch is on-record stating his high expectations of Greene, and practice reports that he’s been getting every opportunity to compete for the starting role. He’s got the size, talent, and relatively advanced technique for an early enrollee true freshman, but there’s still a reason why Dieterich was brought in.

Rounding out the group we have Dominic Harris. The 3-star OT out of Nevada is a mountain of a man. At 6-7 & 356 lbs, Harris is the largest high school recruit Fisch’s staff has brought in to-date (at least according to the official listing). Harris’ recruitment had a lot less fan fare than Greene’s, likely due to his lower profile HS program, but his talent was still nationally recognized, leading to a fierce competition to land his commitment. Just since his official visit and commitment early last summer, teams like Georgia, Texas, LSU, and Oregon all made pushes. My guess is that Harris’ long-term future is at RT, but he could see some reps at iOL if the path towards playing time is clearer.

Things to Keep an Eye On – Spring Practice

Left Tackle & Right Guard Position Battles

As I mentioned earlier, LT and RG are the two positions with position battles impacting the starting line up. Dieterich vs. Greene will be a fight that could extend through the Summer given Dieterich’s current unavailability. However, if Greene seizes the opportunity now, he could lock up the starting spot before it ever becomes a real competition. The ripple effect from this battle likely goes all the way down to the third string. If Greene wins the job, Dieterich will almost certainly be the #1 swing tackle option off the bench if healthy. If that’s the case, Switzer could take a longer look at the OT options past Faasolo since there would be at least one safe option for depth at both tackle spots.

As for the RG competition, there’s a little more to it than Geirean Hatchett vs. Taulealea straight up. I suspect that the staff wants Taulealea to continue his development by winning the job, especially since Hatchett’s presence on the roster wasn’t even a certainty at the end of the season. Given his growing snap count at the end of the season, I think that the plan was always for Taulealea to work towards a starting role in 2026, and the prudent decision would be to stick with that development plan as long as he’s ready for it. Hatchett does bring a lot of value as a veteran presence with experience across the iOL, but Taulealea could prove to be the higher upside option. Where this competition gets tricky is where the team’s at health wise at the other positions. Depending on where Landen Hatchett is in his recovery, and where Jake Flores is in his center training, moving Geirean to center may be the smarter move for depth. Alternatively, should Dieterich miss significant time due to injury, Switzer may see Mills as the best emergency swing tackle option with Hatchett then stepping into the LG role. If that plays out, and Geirean becomes a first-off-the-bench type option, then I do think Taulealea will end up with the starting role.

Who’s Next Up?

Looking ahead to the future, it is kind of surprising to think that we have quite a few players who may be departing after the 2026 season. Both Hatchett brothers and Drew Azzopardi are set to complete their eligibility after this season, and Dieterich, Faasolo, and Jackett will have completed their fourth year of college with the option to graduate and seek opportunities else where. We’ve been recruiting well and have a strong foundation, but there are still questions about the succession plan. John Mills is a known quantity. Champ Taulealea is a likely quality starter, if not better. Kodi Greene appears set to be a long-term starting caliber player, but he’s an unknown at the college level. That’s three guys who are in line to be starters or returning starters in 2027. Mills looked good filling in at tackle when forced into the role last year, so it’s safe to say that he offers some position flexibility when mapping out future plans, but that still leaves us needing at least a Center and an iOL/OT of the future.

We’ve been fortunate to have been able to bring in freshmen who have been able to find traction as in year one, but that’s not a sustainable model for long-term roster management. It might be a fantasy to think from a long term perspective in this day and age, but a stable roster situation shouldn’t have more than one or two freshmen/sophomores in the starting line up. We should be developing our the second, third, or fourth guys in an OL recruiting class into starters by year three. Looking at 2027 season, those would be guys like Shaffer, Hylkema, and Lowen Colman-Brusa to step up this season in preparation for replacing the outgoing seniors. Heading into their second season in 2026, these guys fighting into the 2-deep along side other first and second year players like Mills, Taulealea, and Flores, will keep us from needing to rely on the Transfer Portal or another true freshman.