From Beantown to Bayou Country

Surrounded by a crowd of 92,407 fans on a muggy Louisiana night in September, one-time Harvard freshman Andrew Hatch took the field in his first ever college football appearance. The quarterback passed the ball for nine yards on his first play during Louisiana State University’s 44-0 victory over Middle Tennessee State.

Hatch’s uncommon path to the bayou took him from his home state of Nevada, through Cambridge, down to Chile and onto an operating table before ending at LSU, where he’s played most the year as the Tigers’ third string quarterback. Hatch enrolled at Harvard in 2005 before toiling near the bottom of the Crimson depth chart.

“It’s crazy because when he was here we were all competing and a bunch of us blocked together,” senior quarterback Chris Pizzotti said. “I mean, it’s crazy how he can go from Harvard to one of the best programs in the country.”

Hatch seems to be swept up in Tiger fever, and he is clearly happy with his choice to leave Cambridge for LSU.

“The football here has been really exciting; we’ve had some huge games, some great wins, and being a part of it has been a lot of fun,” Hatch said. “It’s crazy sometimes. I mean, the amount of fans is just unreal. They’re like 92,000 strong every game, every game is sold out they’re all packed.”

Coming from sparsely-attended Harvard Stadium, which seats a third as many fans as Tiger Stadium, the new surroundings might be overwhelming, but to the LSU sophomore, it’s simply “awesome.”

“It’s like the loudest thing I’ve ever heard going into the stadium,” Hatch said. “If there’s a big play on the ground you can feel the sound. Before the games there’s like 120,000 people on campus going nuts just getting ready for the game. It’s the best environment of any college football team.”

FAITH-BASED LEARNING

One could say Hatch’s faith brought him to this stage. He was raised a Mormon in the Church of Latter Day Saints in Henderson, the second-largest city in Nevada.

“It was how it was raised,” Hatch said of his upbringing. “It’s helped me a lot along the way in many different aspects.”

Coming out of high school, Hatch was aggressively recruited and eventually committed to Brigham Young University after communication with erstwhile head coach Gary Crowton. A colorful man and fellow Mormon, Crowton made an appearance in the Mormon pop culture film The R.M., a farce comedy about a missionary who returned home to find his life all topsy-turvy.

Shortly after recruiting Hatch, Crowton was forced to resign after leading the team to three straight losing seasons, the first sub-.500 campaigns in 29 years. Without Crowton, Hatch lost interest in playing for BYU. So, Crowton gave his friend Harvard coach Tim Murphy a call, encouraging him to pursue the young quarterback. Murphy did, and Hatch made his way to the northeast.

Hatch would spend a year wearing crimson, honing his skill with the team.

“He was a great kid. He was fun to play with,” Pizzotti said. “He didn’t say much, but he had some good one-liners that we still reference.”

Neither Hatch nor Pizzotti ever saw the field during 2004, when Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 captained Harvard to an undefeated season, giving the blockmates time to bond on the sideline. Pizzotti can recall a number of memorable moments from practices during their freshman year.

“He overthrew a receiver one day at practice and he kind of muttered to himself: ‘too much cannon,’” Pizzotti laughed. “So, every time at practice someone overthrows a ball…”

As planned, Hatch took a leave of absence after his freshman year to go on his Mormon mission. For members of the church, a mission abroad is often seen as a rite of passage. While the team anticipated his departure, they, like Hatch, did not expect him to travel to Chile.

“We knew he had to go on his Mormon mission,” Pizzotti said, “It was just a matter of when he was going to do it. When he went to Chile, the guys gave him a hard time about it.”

Hatch explained that the intent of the mission was to provide much-needed service to a underprivileged community.

“It’s difficult a lot of the time, especially at this stage of your life, to have a chance to focus on something else other than just progressing through school and your career,” he said.

Planning to spend the normal two years away from home, Hatch prepared to dedicate himself to the Church mission.

“You talk to people everywhere on the streets and you help them out and if anyone is interested in our beliefs and the church you talk about that,” Hatch said.

A HITCH ON THE PITCH

What Hatch did not expect was that his time as a missionary would be cut short by injury. After just five months in Chile, Hatch tore his meniscus while playing soccer with locals.

“It was kind of a bummer,” Hatch said. “It was kind of weird, I was playing soccer. It was a legit game. I was playing pretty hard and then, it wasn’t a dirty play or anything, I just kind of went to score and someone just undercut me and I really just twisted my knee really hard as I fell.”

Hatch remained in the country undiagnosed for two more months.

“I was hoping I just sprained something and I would walk it off, I was down there just working and doing my thing down there and it really didn’t get better,” he said.

At that point, an MRI revealed the seriousness of his injury and sent him back to the states for surgery. Hatch finished out the year rehabbing his knee in Henderson, when Crowton made a reappearance in his life.

“My family had been in contact with [Crowton] and he heard what I was doing serving the church mission and all that,” Hatch said.

Crowton invited Hatch to Tigers camp and, in storybook fashion, Hatch earned his way on to the team—with a full scholarship.

Murphy, who called Hatch “a great kid,” said that the quarterback asked him for his blessing before committing to LSU.

“He calls me up this summer and says, ‘Hey coach, you’re not going to believe this,’” Murphy laughed. “It kind of made sense, I understood the history, but it still…”

‘A LITTLE LESS WORK’

Circumstances were in Hatch’s favor, as LSU was hurting for quarterbacks after losing No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell to the Oakland Raiders via the draft.

Hatch is now second on the depth chart behind senior Matt Flynn, after sophomore Ryan Perrilloux was suspended by the team.

“You know, there was a picture in USA Today when we were up at Cornell and it was them singing the alma mater in front of 80,000 people at Tigers Stadium, and there’s Hatch right in the middle of it, and it was kind of surreal,” Murphy chuckled.

Looking ahead to his future, Hatch is contemplating a professional football career.

“It’s definitely a dream, I think every football player keeps that somewhere,” Hatch said. “I feel like you can definitely have a great chance to go on the next level if you play here.”

“It’s not that you don’t get that at Harvard, don’t get me wrong,” he said.

Hatch remembers his Harvard days fondly and was eager to reminisce about the team. But it’s the LSU academic life that seems to agree with him.

“I just remember sometimes having to stay up all night having to write a paper,” Hatch said. “Here, there’s a little less work.”

But as much as he’s enjoying life in Louisiana, he still pulls for the Crimson.

“Tell the Harvard team to bring home the Ivy Championship,” he said. “I’m definitely rooting for them.”