Friday, August 2nd, 2024 will be remembered as a turning point in the college football landscape. It marked the official date of Washington’s entry into the Big Ten Conference. The Huskies, along with Oregon, USC, and UCLA now round out the conference at even 18 teams ahead of the 2024 season. With perfect timing, the Big Ten Network’s Fall Camp Tour arrived in Seattle for Day 3 of Washington’s practice on Friday. The team was in pads for the first time this Fall, and they got things rolling out on the East practice field. The notebook from practice features some observations along the Washington offensive line.
Observations Up Front
The Huskies broke out into team drills about 45 minutes into practice and we focused our attention on the offensive line. Up front, the group looks visually deeper than what we saw in the Spring. Washington added three transfers after Spring practice, a few true freshmen are now suited up, and Gaard Memmelaar was in pads taking reps.
Washington went through a scrimmage session on Friday as well. Fisch said the offense ran anywhere from 75 to 80% run plays during those team periods. With it being the first day in pads, running the ball became much more of a focus. Jedd Fisch said the offensive line ran the ball effectively on the day, but there’s, “A long way to go before we’re anything near where we want to be though.”
This is the first time the staff has fielded two full offensive line groups since taking over in January. Fisch said, “ It was fun to see all the new bodies working together, and the offensive line having so many players out there rotating.”
Washington Offensive Line Groups
While there won’t be an official depth chart until right before the week one matchup against Weber State, we got a glimpse of a couple of groups of linemen. One of those groups featured the same five players we projected earlier this offseason. D’Angalo Titialii lined up at center with Enokk Vimahi and Drew Azzopardi to his right at guard and tackle, respectively. On the other side, Memmelaar lined up at left guard with Soane Faasolo at left tackle. Having Memmelaar back in pads is a big step for the offensive line group. He’s been out with injury since this time last year but returns four years of experience in the program with a handful of games played.
The other group that lined up together featured Zachary Henning at center. To his right were Kahlee Tafai at guard, and Elishah Jackett at tackle. On the left, Paki Finau flanked Henning at guard, and transfer Maximus McCree was at left tackle. McCree was a JUCO All-American in 2021 at Iowa Central Community College. He transferred to Maryland in 2022, and back to Iowa Central in 2023, playing in two games in that stretch.
Fisch is optimistic that Landen Hatchett will be cleared by the time the season begins. He gave us this information at Big Ten Media Days, pointing towards the team’s mock game on August 17th as a target for the sophomore center. With Hatchett’s potential return, the line figures to shuffle around some more. But to get two groups together and taking reps early in Fall camp is a significant step in the right direction for the offense heading into its first season in the Big Ten.
