Given that Landen Hatchett has an NIL deal with International House of Pancakes, he knows something about waking up the right way. And he did just that for Husky nation when he announced his second plunge with  Washington Football Sunday morning.

In a very understated fashion, he dropped a two-word, two-emoji, 2-second video onto Twitter at 9:44 am.

Although Landen is injured and out for an unspecified time period, the former 4-star recruit from from Ferndale, Washington in the 2023 class, he may be a very big stabilizing force for the culture transition.

Landen has been around the program for a very long time, having witnessed  his older brother being recruited by UW offensive line coach Scott Huff back in 2018, before becoming a target himself 3 years later.

Growing up an hour and an half from Husky Stadium, Hatchett lives close enough where he can return home with a bag of laundry that his mom will happy help with.  But now it’s Landen who can help to smooth out some of the wrinkles that will inevitably occur in the transition between coaches.

New offensive coordinator and OL coach Brennan Carroll’s job could be more difficult than replacing a head coach: He is replacing a man who was involved in every facet of his player’s lives.

In Hatchett’s case, for the better part of the freshman’s past 6-or-so years—he was preparing himself for early playing time, and his plunge into the Montlake Cut on a recruiting visit before he committed.

It paid off as last Spring he and his now-legendary blonde locks slid into the system so easily and so early having virtually grew up in it.  He knew how to prepare his body for success, as him winning the Travis Spring Most Outstanding Freshman award would attest.

At 6-2, and 305, Landen doesn’t have the biggest frame, but he probably had the biggest heart.  In speaking with many freshman who were considering Washington, he was the deal-maker.  He always advocated for his guy, Scott Huff but also for the Washington Football program, but also for Seattle and the State of Washington.

Now for his second plunge, who better to be helping the new staff transition from Huff to Carroll and Kalen DeBoer to Jedd Fisch.