This Hatchett likes trees: Elite 2020 offensive lineman recaps visit
Geirean Hatchett has the makings of the next great offensive linemen out of the state of Washington and the 2020 prospect visited Stanford Saturday. The Cardinal may once again look to the backyard of its northern rival to land an elite talent on the line.
In the past decade David Decastro (All-Pro with the Steelers), Joshua Garnett (49ers) and current freshman, and former five star, Foster Sarell have all left the Evergreen State for The Farm. Hatchett is well aware of Stanford’s recent record of offensive linemen and his experience during the visit showed why his fellow Washington natives signed with the Cardinal.
“Stanford was awesome. I loved it down there,” he said. “Obviously their academics, you can’t beat that. Their campus, I really loved their campus. It was spread out, and I liked that, and it was very beautiful.”
The Stanford environment awed the sophomore who already has a national offers list, and seems to add a new one each time he visits a school. He was at Cal the weekend of March 3 and has an offer from the Golden Bears to go along with Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, Oregon and, of course, Washington.
But facilities will take a back seat in Hatchett’s mind when it comes to making a college decision. He has a pretty good idea of what he wants in a school and program:
“I’m looking for a town and a college that I can call my second home. I’m an academic guy and academics are important to me, so I want a good academic school. And the people matter to me, too. The coaching staff and the people I’ll be around, because once you get to college it’s about the people and not the flashy lights they show you when you go on recruiting tours.”
It’s a mature mindset for a junior or senior, let alone a sophomore. It maybe it isn’t a surprise given his father, Bill, played football at a small college called Western Washington University. If that sounds familiar it’s because that’s where Stanford head coach David Shaw got his start in coaching.
And Bill Hatchett was on that team. Shaw often leads the tour of Stanford’s facilities and it didn’t taken long for the connection to surface.
“Once they got talking he remembered my dad and they talked about the good ole days for a little bit,” laughed Geirean.
“It was fun. I liked him a lot,” he said of talking with Shaw.
Hatchett spent most of his time Saturday with Stanford’s new offensive line coach Kevin Carberry.
“It was nice to sit down and talk with him,” Hatchett said. “We got to watch a lot of film from games when he coached in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. We got to watch a couple practice drills that they do. We really got to sit down and talk football -- pass protection and run blocking.”
The Hatchetts then watched as Carberry applied the talking points from the meeting to the practice field when he worked with the Stanford linemen.
“He’s obviously their coach, but it’s a really calm, friendly relationship,” Hatchett said. “He would joke around with his guys but still be serious at the same time. I really like that about him.”
One of the most important stops on a daylong visit to Stanford is the academic presentation of what a recruit needs to do to be admitted to the university. Hatchett reports a 3.8 GPA and was attentive to the requirements.
“It was good to be able to see what I need to try to get into Stanford. I’m going to be serious about that because I want … to get into Stanford first of all and possibly play for them some day in the future.”
Stanford has offered three 2020 offensive linemen and, even though it wasn’t specifically discussed, Hatchett left thinking like he could join that list.
“I feel that they really like me and if I do everything that I need to do academically that it’s a possibility they’ll offer me,” he said. “From the way the coaches interacted with me throughout the day I got that vibe from them.
“Stanford would definitely be a big one.”