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Husky Roster Review: Anthony Ward Is There If You Need Him

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Jul 2, 2025 12:09 PM ET

Anthony Ward and Geriean Hatchett have a lot in common as University of Washington football players.

They each have a brother on the team.

Both have transferred away from the UW and come back.

Yet where Ward is different than the veteran offensive lineman -- and this is no reflection whatsoever on any of Hatchett's other relatives -- is the sixth-year senior linebacker calls Bobby Wagner, one of the NFL's greatest players, his uncle.

Ward and Wagner play the same position. Similarly they each have spent a lot of time in Seattle, Wagner once a Seahawks institution. And they remain on their best behavior whenever around Anthony's mom and Bobby's sister, Nakima, who is a flight attendant for Delta Airlines.

As far as the Husky football team, the 6-foot, 223-pound Anthony Ward knows exactly where he stands.

He's a special-teams leader and a back-up linebacker and none of that is likely to change.

This Ward provides dependability on fourth down and a reserve presence for the other three downs if needed.

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

Throughout 15 spring practices, Ward played almost exclusively with the No. 2 defense, lined up either next to sophomore Deven Bryant or Central Florida transfer Xe'ree Alexander, though he teamed with WSU transfer and projected starter Buddah Al-Uqdah in the Spring Game as the Huskies divvied up their first-teamers evenly among the two sides.

In the spring linebacker drills, Ward wasn't afraid to remind someone such as Bryant how to do something the right way.

He seemed to command plenty of respect from his new linebackers coach Brian Odom, who before one practice spoke to him at length while fixing Ward's tangled up shoulder pads.

In the sixth practice, Ward had his spring moment when he dropped back 10 yards in coverage and intercepted a Demond Williams Jr. pass.

Anthony Ward holds an interesting role as that of the Husky linebacker, the brother, the nephew and, of course, the dutiful son.

ANTHONY WARD FILE

What he's done: Ward has played in 25 games over two seasons combined for Washington and Arizona, all as a reserve, after not playing in two seasons for a pair of Jimmy Lake teams and in his first year in Tucson with Jedd Fisch. He showed off his special-teams acumen for the Wildcats in 2023 by blocking a punt and returning it 2 yards for a touchdown in a 42-18 victory over Utah. He has 4 career tackles.

Starter or not: While his brother has been a two-year starter at the UW and Arizona, this Ward likely remains in reserve at linebacker unless the Huskies get hit by a string of injuries. If he could channel Bobby Wagner, one of the greatest NFL linebackers of all time, that wouldn't hurt him at all.

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This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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