posted by Alan Schmadtke on May 4, 2008

Ryan Perrilloux, we hardly knew ya. And from our vantage point, by the time the 2008 football season is halfway through, we won't remember much about you (unless you surface at a Championship Sub-Division school and play right away).

Why? Because of Andrew Hatch. Who? The new starting quarterback at LSU, the man with a story so cool that the national media's gonna be all over it before the Tigers start two-a-days in three months.

Hatch is from Henderson, Nev., a place made famous only because it gets mentioned on "CSI" from time to time when Grissom and Catherine Willows get lured out of Vegas by some particularly dastardly crime.

But Hatch didn't sign out of high school to throw passes for LSU. He signed with . . . Harvard. Yup, that one.

Andrew_hatch Hatch, raised a Mormon, was all set to sign with BYU out of high school. But the BYU coach who recruited him, Gary Crowton, resigned before Hatch was done with high school. Crowton convinced Harvard Coach Tim Murphy to recruit Hatch -- and Hatch to consider Harvard.

Hatch didn't play as a freshman, but following that year he fulfilled a promise to take a Mormon mission, taking a year off from college. He went to Chile, where he injured a knee playing pickup soccer.

He landed back in Nevada for rehab. And it was there that Crowton, who by then made his way to LSU, got back in touch with his former almost-recruit. Here's one update from Hatch's former school newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. Crowton, who many consider to be a top X's and O's coach, resurfaced as LSU Coach Les Miles' offensive coordinator.

And now with Hatch healed and transferred to LSU; with Matt Flynn graduated; and with Perrilloux out (kicked off the team, finally), Hatch is the likely starter on college football's defending national championship team.

You know there are some other good stories waiting to come out of Andrew Hatch. Can't wait to hear them.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=808896&forum_id=1#9733796)