UW football gets help in the trenches with transfer OL from Old Dominion

If it wasn’t clear already, Washington is looking for help in the trenches. 

Attrition, coaching staff changes and transfers left a once-dominant offensive line as one of the major unknowns facing the Huskies this spring. 

But the Huskies and coach Jedd Fisch took another step toward addressing their questions up front Wednesday, landing a commitment from junior offensive lineman Chris Adams, an Old Dominion transfer. 

Adams is UW’s fifth transfer-portal commitment of the spring, and the third player to pledge themselves to the Huskies in the past two days. 

Four of Washington’s new transfer-portal additions have been either offensive or defensive linemen. Adams and former Portland State interior offensive lineman D’Angalo Titialii will join offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll’s position group. 

Edge rusher Jayden Wayne, a former Lincoln High School standout in Tacoma, will transfer in from Miami. His Hurricane teammate Logon Sagapolu may switch to the defensive line with the Huskies, too, after spending the majority of his college career as an interior offensive lineman. 

Adams will immediately become one of Washington’s most experienced linemen as soon as he steps on campus. He started all 13 games for Old Dominion during the 2023 season as the Monarchs went 6-7, losing the Famous Toastery Bowl to Western Kentucky 38-35 in overtime. He also played two games as a redshirt freshman during 2022. 

A fourth-year junior entering his first season with the Huskies, the 6-foot-6, 286-pound Adams helped the Monarchs rush for 1,996 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2023. Old Dominion averaged 4.2 yards per rush and 153.5 yards per game. 

However, the Monarchs also surrendered the most sacks of any team in the Sun Belt during the 2023 season. Old Dominion quarterbacks were sacked 62 times, losing 366 yards in the process. Marshall allowed 36 sacks in 2023, second-most sacks among Sun Belt teams yet significantly fewer than Old Dominion. 

Adams joins a group at Washington lacking any significant experience. All five starters who helped lead the Huskies to the 2023 Joe Moore Award as the best offensive line unit in the country departed. Interior offensive linemen Landen Hatchett, Gaard Memmelaar and Zachary Henning all have minimal experience. 

Hatchett’s nine games played are the most among Washington’s offensive line returners. 

Sophomore offensive tackle Drew Azzopardi, a former San Diego State transfer who initially committed to Kalen DeBoer’s staff but stuck around to play for Fisch, was the most experienced offensive lineman on the roster before Adams joined. He played in 15 games with the Aztecs between, though only six were starts. 

Outside of Adams and Azzopardi, Washington has three redshirt freshman offensive tackles: Soane Faasolo, Kahlee Tafai and Elishah Jackett. Tafai has also spent parts of the spring working on the interior offensive line. Two more true freshmen, Davit Boyajyan and Justin Hylkema, will join before the season begins. 

Carroll said he’d ideally like to have around 15 scholarship offensive linemen entering the 2024 season. The addition of Adams and Titialii puts that number at 13 just one day after the transfer portal closed for the spring.