If you call Harvard’s athletic department or The Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper, they know Andrew Hatch. But they might have trouble finding pictures or stories about the man who seems to be the Tigers’ next starting quarterback.
Neither Harvard’s athletic Web site nor the campus newspaper covered junior varsity football when Hatch played on the Crimson’s junior varsity team in 2005.
No one – not even Hatch – could have predicted where he is now.
“When I was daydreaming about playing football, I don’t think I ever had on an LSU uniform in my thoughts,” Hatch said. “But that’s just the way life is and how the journey turns out sometimes. I have no regrets, and I am happy the way it all turned out.”
“The journey” Hatch has taken to Baton Rouge has had more than its fair share of pit stops.
Hatch spent his high school days at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Nevada.
It was during his senior season Hatch got to know LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who was then the head coach at BYU.
Crowton said Hatch’s competitive nature stood out, despite his lack of size.
“He wasn’t in an offense that was highlighting the quarterback,” Crowton said. “But at the same time, he took over the game I watched … He didn’t throw for a lot of yards. He had a decent completion percentage, but he won. And he won in a manner that let me believe at that time that there was upside and potential for him to grow.”
Hatch initially verbally committed to BYU but changed his decision before National Signing Day and decided to play for Harvard.
“It was the best fit at the time for me and my family,” Hatch said. “Harvard is a great school where I also got the opportunity to play football. And for me, that seemed like the place I needed to be.”
Hatch spent one season on Harvard’s junior varsity team. The highlight of Hatch’s freshman season came in Harvard’s junior varsity game against rival Yale when he threw and ran for a touchdown.
Harvard coach Tim Murphy said Hatch was buried in the Crimson’s depth chart his freshman season.
“He was a work in progress,” Murphy said. “At the time as a freshman, he was our No. 4 quarterback behind some good players, but we obviously thought he had the potential to be a very quality quarterback.”
After his freshman season, Hatch put his football career on hold and went on a Mormon mission to Chile.
But what was scheduled to be a two-year mission lasted just five months, when Hatch injured his knee playing soccer and had to return home for surgery.
Back home in Utah, he found himself again being courted by Crowton, who now wanted Hatch to join him at LSU.
But much to Crowton’s surprise, the scrawny, 6-foot-1-inch, 170-pound kid who impressed Crowton with his toughness a few years ago had now filled out his frame and looked more like an Southeastern Conference quarterback.
“We told him he would have to walk on and earn the scholarship, and he did,” Crowton said. “And he came and was now 6-foot-4, and instead of 190, he was 220 pounds, so immediately there was a kid that I liked with a bigger frame.”
Murphy said he spoke to Hatch about also returning to Harvard after his mission, but he said Hatch’s heart was at LSU.
“Andrew and I talked at length, and since this was something he really wanted to do, I didn’t want to hold him back,” Murphy said.
Hatch accepted Crowton’s offer and walked onto the LSU squad this past season with a promise to have a scholarship the following season if he earned it.
Pitted behind three scholarship quarterbacks, including then-sophomore Ryan Perrilloux and redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee on the depth chart, Hatch could have easily been discouraged, but he said he always felt he would get a chance to be LSU’s starter.
“I’ve always believed that you have to set your goals high,” Hatch said. “The odds were not in my favor, and there were several talented players in front of me, but I always believed if I worked hard enough and did the right things that I would be in a position to get on the field.”
This season may be that time for Hatch. This past season’s starter Matt Flynn was drafted to the NFL and projected starter Ryan Perrilloux was dismissed from the team in early May, leaving Hatch and Lee as the two top returning quarterbacks on the depth chart heading into the Tigers’ opener against Appalachian State on Saturday.
Hatch and Lee split reps in spring and fall practices to battle for the starting job. And Hatch said he would be happy with whatever role he plays on the team.
“Jarrett is a terrific player,” Hatch said. “He has a good arm and good mobility and will be a solid player when given his opportunity.”
Senior receiver Demetrius Byrd, who also transferred to LSU in the same offseason as Hatch, said he thinks Hatch can be a leader in the huddle because his teammates respect the road he has traveled.
“I do not know his specific situation, but I do know he worked very hard to get here,” Byrd said. “As a teammate, I like that in a quarterback because I know he will do what it takes to win, because of how hard he had to travel to get here.”
Although Hatch has only two pass attempts and fewer than 10 collegiate snaps under his belt, Murphy said Harvard’s loss will be LSU’s gain this season.
“We felt Andrew Hatch had the potential to be a quality Division-I quarterback,” he said. “But with limited experience, LSU fans will have to cut him some slack because any quarterback in that situation will make his share of mistakes.”
—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]