New ASU coach, Hatcher reunited
When Butch Jones arrived at the Arkansas State University football facility for the first time last month, his new quarterback was waiting for him in the lobby with open arms.
“I think I was the first player he saw when I walked into the facility,” Layne Hatcher said. “I gave him a big hug and we talked. It was a nice little reunion.”
It was a fast embrace for the Red Wolves’ new head coach and his presumed starting quarterback, but it wasn’t their first meeting. The two have worked together before.
In 2018, Hatcher spent one season at Alabama as a walkon before the quarterback from Pulaski Academy transferred to Arkansas State. His lone year with the Crimson Tide coincided with Jones’ first as an offensive analyst in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the 52-year-old coach spent three seasons prior to his hiring at ASU on Dec. 12.
Their overlap at Alabama was brief, and Hatcher never played a down for the Crimson Tide, but the duo forged
“A lot of the same intangibles that you see here at Arkansas State, he displayed those same things at Alabama.” Arkansas State Coach Butch Jones, on Layne Hatcher
a relationship. Coach and quarterback are together again in Jonesboro, and Hatcher is ready to resume a full-time starting role under Jones, the coach who saw something in the walk-on three years ago.
“A lot of the same intangibles that you see here at Arkansas State, he displayed those same things at Alabama,” Jones said.
After throwing for 2,946 yards over 10 games in 2019, Hatcher split starting duties with Logan Bonner this past fall. The two-quarterback system yielded ASU impressive statistical results.
Guided by offensive coordinator Keith Heckendorf, who will remain in the role under Jones, the pair combined for 39 touchdowns (second in FBS) and 364.4 passing yards per game (second) for an offense that racked up 5,387 total yards, 11th best in the nation. Hatcher alone threw for 2,058 yards and 19 touchdowns on 116 fewer attempts than 2019.
Bonner informed teammates after the Red Wolves’ win over Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 28 that he planned to transfer at the end of the season. On Dec. 29, Bonner committed to Utah State, reuniting with Blake Anderson and clearing the path for Hatcher to assume the sole starting quarterback job once again in 2021.
“That doesn’t change anything for me mentally for how I prepare or how I go about my daily business,” Hatcher said. “I’ll just throw a few more balls in practice. That’s the way I look at it.”
The main difference next fall for Hatcher and the rest of his teammates will be a new head coach.
At Alabama, Hatcher operated in the shadows of quarterbacks such as Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts and Mac Jones — who won a national championship Monday night for the Tide — but Butch Jones took notice of the 6-0, 196-pound nonscholarship quarterback.
Jones spotted a hard worker who often hung back after practice to get extra reps and spent nights in watching film.
“He was always team first,” Jones said. “He always did the extra stuff.”
Jones worked mainly with the Crimson Tide’s running backs in 2018, but his guidance spread across offensive position groups. As a walk-on inside Nick Saban’s mammoth program, Hatcher found a resource in the man who ultimately would became his head coach.
“Butch helped me out if he saw something I needed to fix,” Hatcher said. “He was somebody I could go talk to. He was always really good to me and we had a good relationship.”
That relationship recommenced upon Jones’ hiring in December. ASU’s head coach remained involved with Alabama’s 2020 national championship run, but when he has been on campus, Jones and Hatcher have met almost daily.
Hatcher often checks in on recruiting, and they talk about Jones’ move to Jonesboro. When they met in the lobby last month, Jones’ first question was about Hatcher’s family.
“A lot of times with the head coach and the quarterback, it’s a lot more than X’s and O’s,” Jones said. “It’s building that trust and forming that trust. The personal standpoint is just as important as anything else.”
Soon enough, those conversations will turn more toward the football field.
As Jones works to make an imprint on his new program, he holds a familiarity with the quarterback who will lead it. And for Hatcher, he has a coach he knows well — the quarterback said he and Jones have “similar minds” — and one whose knowledge he knows he can rely on from their year spent together at Alabama.
“When you’re around somebody with that much experience, he’s kind of seen everything before,” Hatcher said. “That gives you all the confidence in the world in him because he’s been there and he’s done it.”