Fourth-year center Landen Hatchett's long recovery from a wrist surgery could be nearing an end.
The Washington Huskies football team could finally see the return of one of the most experienced offensive linemen on the team.
Fourth-year center Landen Hatchett, who's been out of action this season with a wrist injury he suffered last season, was listed as questionable on the injury report for the team's first road game of the season against the No. 18 Southern California (USC) Trojans, which is set to take place at 4:30 p.m. PT on Oct. 4 at L.A. Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Hatchett first suffered the injury last season in a game against the Illinois Fightin' Illini on Oct. 25, 2025.
The preseason Rimington Trophy watchlist member suited up in pads for the first time this season in the team's 27-24 loss against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Sept. 26.
Hatchett returned to practice in the week leading up to the game against Minnesota. He didn't participate in competitive/11-on-11 drills, but has steadily worked himself back to full speed in practice and will be a game-time decision for the team's game against USC on Saturday.
"We still need to see how he is healing and how he is feeling, so nothing (new) on Landen," UW head coach Jedd Fisch said in a weekly news conference via Zoom on Thursday.
Hatchett played in two more games after he first suffered the injury against the FIghtin' Illini: against the Wisconsin Badgers on Nov. 8, 2025, and against the Oregon Ducks on Nov. 29, 2025.
Hatchett underwent surgery for the injury in December. And, at the time of the surgery, there wasn't an anticipation from the coaching staff that he would miss games. Originally, it was thought that Hatchett would be able to return during training camp. When that didn't come to fruition, the target date was UW's Big Ten opener against the Golden Gophers.
The fourth-year center underwent a second surgery for the same injury in May that delayed his recovery to the point he's at now.
"When he had the surgery that first week in December, there was no thought process at all — we felt he would be fully involved starting June 1. But then he had another surgery in (April or May). And, at that point in time, we were still under the impression that, if all things went great, he would be back for the second-to-last week of training camp. As things progressed, it was longer than we all hoped in progress. So, therefore, it started becoming a week-to-week thing starting Week 3 of the season. ... We're finally at a spot where we're able to take it all the way to the last minute and see what it looks like. And we're getting pretty close to being able to make it work."
