{"id":85410,"date":"2026-02-05T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T00:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=85410"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:00:14","slug":"washington-offensive-line-returns-experience-adds-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/02\/05\/washington-offensive-line-returns-experience-adds-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Offensive Line Returns Experience, Adds Talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s offensive line next fall could be the best it\u2019s been in the three years of the Jedd Fisch tenure. The group up front returns four out of five starters from last season, with a total of 2,552 snaps played during the 2025 season. The only position needing replacement is at left tackle. It\u2019s the most critical position along the line, but the Huskies have some promising talent ready to compete for the starting job at that spot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington Offensive Line<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Returning Production\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Right tackle Drew Azzopardi<\/a> will be a senior this coming season and returns 24 total starts in two seasons at Washington, starting every game he\u2019s played. The 6\u2019-7\u201d and 315-pound blocker has played over 1,500 snaps as a Husky, and last year he took a significant step forward. Azzopardi\u2019s pass blocking grade jumped tremendously in one year, going from 45.9 in 2024 to 74.1 in 2025. Azzopardi allowed 29 quarterback pressures and seven sacks in 2024. But he shored up his protection in 2025, allowing only 15 pressures and giving up just one sack on the year.
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At center and right guard, Washington returns both Hatchett brothers. Landen Hatchett<\/a> will be the starting center again in 2026. He did not play the final four games of the season due to a hand injury suffered in the game against Illinois. But in nine games played, Hatchett snapped the ball 532 times and allowed just one sack on the year. His pass-blocking grade was the second-highest on the team, according to Pro Football Focus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Geirean Hatchett<\/a>, his older brother, was granted an additional, seventh year of eligibility by the NCAA to return in 2026. The elder Hatchett was recruited by Chris Petersen at Washington and enrolled in 2020. Last season, Hatchett played 775 snaps with 744 of them at right guard, allowing three sacks. It was the first season of his career in which he played and started in every game.
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All-American Returner<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Washington returns freshman All-American John Mills<\/a> at left guard, the highest-rated returning pass blocker from last year\u2019s offensive line. Mills had a PFF pass-blocking grade of 80.2, which ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten at his position. Mills started all 11 games he played as a true freshman, missing the other two due to injury. In 589 total snaps, Mills allowed only 12 quarterback pressures and zero sacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to win that Joe Moore Award,\u201d Mills said during a press conference this week. \u201cWe have our sights on that, that\u2019s our goal this offseason, just to get as good as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Heading into 2026, Mills likely continues to work at the guard spot, but he said he\u2019s ready to go at tackle should that be where Fisch and staff want to put him. As a true freshman, Mills played 142 snaps at right tackle. He shuffled out to that position due to some injuries on the line throughout the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Left Tackle Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fisch has made it known that he expects the newly-enrolled, five-star offensive lineman Kodi Greene to start at left tackle this fall. At 6\u2019-6\u201d and 320 pounds, Greene certainly has the frame of a prototypical left tackle. His film shows that he possesses a blocking technique that could translate to the next level, specifically within this Husky offense. A key indication of that is his ability to get off the line and block downfield, move his feet, and work into the second level of the defense. Fisch stressed the importance of his offensive linemen playing with quickness and mobility before last season. Being able to \u201cget up and run\u201d as a blocker is critical in a zone run scheme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we were in the same position almost,\u201d Mills said of Greene during availability this week. He was comparing himself to the new freshman who also has expectations to become a starter in year one. \u201cHe\u2019s a stud man\u2026 He\u2019s in a great position, and I love the way he works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of Washington\u2019s 267 run attempts in 2025, 82% of them were in the zone scheme. For Greene to step into that starting role at left tackle, he\u2019ll need to show that mobility and footwork required for this offense to be successful on the ground. That\u2019s in addition to providing blindside protection for Demond Williams on the left side.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To push Green’s development, Washington added Sam Houston State transfer offensive lineman Kolt Dieterich. The former Conference USA blocker has over 1,300 blocking snaps over two seasons. He allowed three sacks on 23 quarterback pressures in 2025 at right tackle. Dieterich has played in 25 games, starting all 12 last season and seven out of 13 the year prior. In 2024, he lined up at left tackle for all of his snaps, so he brings versatile outside blocking experience to the Husky offensive line room. Dieterich stands at 6\u2019-6\u201d and 310 pounds, another quality frame on the outside of the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s offensive line next fall could be the best it\u2019s been in the three years of the Jedd Fisch tenure. The group up front returns four out of five starters from last season, with a total of 2,552 snaps played during the 2025 season. The only position needing replacement is at left tackle. It\u2019s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3944,"featured_media":85414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,17,35612],"tags":[1666,35799],"class_list":["post-85410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigten","category-featured","category-news","category-washington-huskies","tag-jedd-fisch","tag-kodi-greene"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85415,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85410\/revisions\/85415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}