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Ferndale's 2023 center Landen Hatchett will join brother Geirean on UW offensive line
FERNDALE – After over a year of college visits, Ferndale’s highly-coveted 2023 offensive lineman Landen Hatchett has made up his mind.
On Wednesday, June 29, Landen announced his commitment to the University of Washington. He will join his brother Geirean Hatchett in the trenches of the Huskies’ interior offensive line.
“It was a long, kind of drawn-out process because I wanted to make sure I was being as thorough as possible throughout making my decision,” Landen said. “With that comes a lot of built-up pressure on you and stress and stuff. Obviously, it’s a good problem to have, but it still is tough sometimes — so overall I’m happy just to have a decision made, especially UW.”
Landen announced his first NCAA Division I offer on May 15, 2021, before his junior season. Washington State University was the first to bite. Since then, the 6-foot-3, 295-pound center tallied 15 more offers over a year-long recruitment journey.
He announced he had been offered by Washington on June 24, 2021, after receiving bids from the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. A year after receiving his first offer — almost to the exact day — Landen announced via Twitter he was narrowing his options down to five on May 12, 2022. Included were Washington, Oregon, USC, Michigan and Texas A&M.
There were a lot of factors that influenced his decision to stay in-state, despite being recruited nationwide.
“I think it’s a great decision for me. It wasn’t the biggest factor for me, but it’s close to home, which is nice. They have the academics I want, the major I want,” Landen said. “This coaching staff at UW has the place moving in the right direction.”
Off the field, Landen’s academic goals are as just as ambitious as they are on it. He hopes to enroll in the prestigious Michael G. Foster School of Business, with a desire to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
On the field, he wants to be a part of the Huskies’ rise back to the top of the college football world.
“I’ve seen where the program can be — just a few years ago in 2016 when they went to the [College Football Playoff] semifinals,” he said. “I want to be a part of building it back to where it will go.”
One of Landen’s concerns was potentially battling for the same position as his brother. The dream would be to play alongside Geirean, which has nothing to do with Landen’s desire to compete, he said.
“I think some people can sometimes twist that and be like ‘oh, Landen doesn’t want to compete,’ but it’s different,” Landen said. “It’s against my brother. I’m not afraid of competition. Anywhere I go I’m going to have to compete, and I mean I’m still going to have to compete for a spot.”
Those worries were addressed by Washington’s offensive line coach Scott Huff during Landen’s official visit to the campus. Geirean has been taking reps at guard, and the coaching staff views him as a good fit there, Landen said. Washington’s current center, Corey Luciano, will be a senior this upcoming season. When Landen arrives for the 2023 season, the center spot will be a key competition.
Ferndale junior Landen Hatchett during a state tournament play-in game versus Garfield on Nov. 6, 2021. (Connor J. Benintendi/Lynden Tribune)
Landen is also the first true center Coach Huff has recruited, which should bode well for his ability to remain at center for Washington.
“He’s pretty excited about that,” Hatchett said. “He wants to keep me at that position and use what I can do.”
The last time Landen and Geirean shared a football field was Landen’s freshman year of high school at Ferndale.
“That was just a cool kind of dynamic that we had, and it made us a lot closer,” Landen said. “I think doing that even on a bigger scale, just for me personally, will be super cool. I know Geirean’s excited, and my parents are definitely excited. It makes it easy for them, so they don’t have to choose which game to go to on Saturday.”
Landen is thankful for the chance to reunite on the same field as Geirean, emphasizing what a unique opportunity it is.
Their bond as football players and family has a chance to grow stronger than ever.
“I can’t think of really anybody else in the country that has that opportunity right now,” he said. “It’s a very rare opportunity and I think it’s super cool.”
Jana Hatchett, Landen and Geirean’s mother, couldn’t be more thrilled about his recent commitment.
“It definitely was exciting to hear that Landen was going to be at UW with Geirean,” Jana Hatchett said. “As a mom, you can’t ask for more than having your kids together, much less playing side-by-side at such a high level.”
They may wind up playing, literally, right next to each other.
“I can’t wait to watch them in the trenches and have the opportunity to experience college together,” she said.
Landen said his parents were integral in the recruiting process, but also hands-off. He felt like he had full freedom to pave his own path if he chose to, and they would support him no matter what.
Ferndale junior Landen Hatchett bulldozes a Monroe defender during a game on Oct. 30, 2021. (Connor J. Benintendi/Lynden Tribune)
“They kind of left it all up to me. They were letting me pick my own path, they weren’t making me go to UW or anything. They let me decide what was best for me and what I wanted to do,” Landen said. “When I finally kind of broke the news to them, they were definitely in full support. I think they’re super happy with the decision I made, and I’ve had no doubts about me and my decision. I’m super happy to have their support behind me.”
As for all the hair flips in his commitment video? That was courtesy of the Washington staff. Landen provided his basic vision for the video — such as the simulation of the starting lineups being announced, with his and Geirean’s names together — and they did the rest.
He was pleasantly surprised to see the result.
“I didn’t even ask for all the shots of me without the gear and the hair flips and stuff. They took it upon themselves to put those in,” he said with a laugh. “I just kind of gave them a rough outline and they went the extra mile with it. It was awesome. I was super happy when they got it back to me.”
