Four-star LB Christian Thatcher is very high on the Washington Huskies

Four-star linebacker Christian Thatcher scheduled his official visit with Washington on Wednesday, and is very high on the Huskies, thanks to Jedd Fisch’s coaching staff.

As four-star linebacker Christan Thatcher wades through his 31 scholarship offers searching for his best fit at the college level, the biggest thing that he’s looking for is a strong relationship with the coaching staff. He appears to have found that in Jedd Fisch and the Washington Huskies, who are very high on his list.

“I love coach Fisch. I love how he treats his people and his entire staff,” Thatcher said. “I have a great relationship with [linebackers coach Robert] Bala, and I think I have the best relationship with any coach at any school with [defensive quality control coach] Aaron Van Horn, who has been recruiting me since his time at Arizona.”

In fact, Thatcher, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound prospect from Arbor View High School in Las Vegas, Nevada liked his relationship with Van Horn and Fisch’s coaching staff during their time at Arizona so much, he almost committed to the Wildcats.

“They offered me after the second game of my freshman year and we’ve had a really close relationship ever since,” he said. “I was really close to committing to them at Arizona before they left.”

Although Bala is a new addition to Fisch’s staff, Thatcher made sure to do his due diligence in researching him, including contacting some of his old high school teammates.

“Two linebackers that I played with in high school also played for coach Bala when he was the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah University,” he said. “When I asked about him, I was told that he’s the real deal as a coach and more importantly as a human, and that they still talk with him all the time.”

One other newcomer to the staff that has wasted no time developing a relationship with Thatcher is defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who is new to the world of recruiting after spending 12 years with the New England Patriots, but getting the hang of his new role quickly.

“I’m pretty sure I was the first high school player he had to call,” Thatcher said. “It was a really funny conversation, he started with ‘I guess I have to ask you how school is and all that.’ We have hit it off really well and I can’t wait to meet him in person.”

Thatcher set his official visit to Seattle for the weekend of May 31, but it won’t be his first time on campus, as he took an unofficial visit during his freshman year.

When he meets his player host on his visit, it also won’t be the first time Thatcher encounters a Husky, as his first career high school tackle was of wide receiver Germie Bernard, who played for Liberty High School in Las Vegas.

However, the Huskies aren’t the only team in pursuit of Thatcher. He has also set up official visits with Kansas, Missouri, and Utah, and is in the process of scheduling trips to USC and Colorado too. He mentioned that Oregon is also in the mix and that he and his family are only focused on the schools that they have built the strongest relationships with over his recruitment.

While Fisch’s coaching staff has built a strong relationship with Thatcher off the field, it’s also selling the possibility of early playing time. Three Washington linebackers will utilize their final year of eligibility in 2024 and that’s something Thatcher and his family are well aware of.

“As my dad and I have done our research on rosters, the possibility of playing early is definitely important and something that we looked at with each of my top six or seven schools,” he said.

Thatcher also mentioned that he has a relationship with another one of Washington’s top targets at linebacker, four-star linebacker Matai Tagoa’i. The pair played youth football together while being coached by Tagoa’i’s father and haven’t discussed the possibility of playing together again at the college level, yet.

“We are considering a lot of the same schools and will definitely talk about that on our Washington visit, since we’re taking it at the same time.”

While there are a lot of factors that go into choosing a school, it appears the strongest relationship might be what wins the day when it comes to the blue-chip prospect, leaving Washington in a great spot with Thatcher.

“I’m so thankful for the relationship that I’ve been able to build with coach Fisch and his staff,” he said. “The fact that we’ve been talking since my freshman year and that they’ve always been so good to me is so important moving forward and is something that has put Washington really, really, really high on my list.”