UW lineman Colin Tanigawa makes transition to center

SEATTLE – He’s pretty sure that many of his teammates have no idea what his real name is. And he doesn’t care much if anyone outside the Washington football program knows much about him, either.

What matters most to Colin Tanigawa – “Panda” to his teammates and a happily anonymous offensive lineman to most everyone else – is that the teammates on each side of him know they can trust him.

“You play for the guy next to you,” said Tanigawa, the Huskies’ fifth-year senior center.

In his third season as a starter – in a career stalled twice by major knee injuries – Tanigawa has been content to quietly go about his business, away from the spotlight. His personality and his position are a perfect match. A team captain last season, he’s one of the most respected voices in the UW locker room, but unfamiliar to many outside it. He’s fine with that.

This Saturday at Husky Stadium, however, Tanigawa won’t be able to hide in UW’s Pac-12 opener against Stanford and its top-ranked defense. The game, more than most, will largely be decided in the trenches, a matchup Tanigawa and the rest of UW’s veteran offensive linemen are relishing.

“It’s all on you,” Tanigawa said. “It’s definitely a huge task at hand.”

The image of the soft, cuddly “Panda” belies Tanigawa’s persona on the field. On game day, helmet on, he might be the Huskies’ meanest player – which is intended in the nicest way possible.

“All O-linemen are like that,” he said. “You can be nice guys off the field, but on the field it’s a totally different story. … All you’re worried about is messing this guy up.”

At 6-foot-3, 292 pounds, Tanigawa started at guard for most of the 2011 season and all of 2013, missing most of 2012 with his second torn anterior cruciate ligament in as many years. When new offensive line coach Chris Strausser arrived at UW this year, he polled the rest of the linemen: Who is the leader of the line? They were nearly unanimous in their response:

“Panda.”

“That set off a light bulb for me that, ‘Maybe this guy needs to be taking charge at center,’ ” Strausser said.

The transition to center – a position he had never played before this season – has been about as smooth as UW could’ve hoped. Tanigawa’s move allowed Strausser, who prefers his guards to be heavier, to plug in 381-pound senior James Atoe in at right guard.

Tanigawa hopes the chemistry and cohesion built up among the linemen the past few years will pay off for UW this season.

“It makes things a lot easier,” he said. “Since we’ve been together so long, I think we’re all like, ‘Hey, we haven’t had the year we’ve wanted here yet.’ So why not fight like hell to get it?”