Washington Football OL Named to Rimington Award Watch List

After a long and arduous rehab coming off a wrist injury, Washington Huskies center Landen Hatchett found himself among 40 players at his position named to the 2026 preseason Rimington Award watch list on Thursday.

The 6-foot-3, 315-pound senior joined 12 other centers from the Big Ten Conference to lead the way as the league with the most on the watch list.

Hatchett made nine starts for UW coach Jedd Fisch in 2025 and six starts the year prior, proving to be one of the more consistent offensive linemen for the program before a broken right wrist injury he suffered in a 42-25 victory over Illinois ended his third season abruptly.

The 2026 Rimington Trophy Preseason Watchlist! https://t.co/mZcgUXN4lq . Stay Centered! . @pff_college #collegefootball pic.twitter.com/DupaDFKGrm

— Rimington Trophy (@rimingtontrophy) August 6, 2026

"I'm excited," the Huskies ' center said on Tuesday. "Obviously the last...ten months, let's call it, has been kind of a wild one. Ups and downs, just with everything that happened last season, and then this recovery process hasn't been exactly what I want it to be. But that's part of college football and how things go."

A former four-star recruit out of Ferndale High School and the younger brother of Geirean Hatchett, Landen is expected to be full-go early in camp as Fisch stated on Tuesday during his pre-training camp press conference.

Hatchett made a strong impression on former UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and head coach Kalen DeBoer as a true freshman in 2023 behind starter Parker Brailsford. Proving his worth at multiple positions, Hatchett turned a strong first season into six starts—three at right guard and three at center—and 13 total appearances for Fisch in his first season as UW's head coach in 2024.

"The Rimington Trophy is proud to release its 2025 preseason Watchlist," the award said in a press release along with the complete list of players. "This year, the Trophy committee worked with Pro Football Focus (PFF) to narrow down its list to the top 40 centers. PFF grades every player on every play of every game on how well they execute their given assignment. That play-by-play grading allowed the Trophy committee to create a watchlist based both on nominations from the schools and data provided by PFF. Once the season begins, schools will be able to nominate their centers for late addition based on in-season merit."

Now, going into his fourth year at the school and second full season as the Huskies' starting center with third-year quarterback Demond Williams Jr., Hatchett knows the offense is capable of doing special things this fall. Whether he becomes the first UW player to win the award, given annually to the best center in college football since 2000, is not the priority for the senior.

Team success is.

"Being able to take a step back, see the spots in the unit that we have this year, I'm super excited to get going this fall, this camp, and get back to worth with these guys," Hatchett said. "Obviously, as you can expect, I'm very excited to get back to it. It's been a long time. I just want to get back out there and start playing again."

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Football OL Named to Rimington Award Watch List

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