Layne Hatcher

Layne Hatcher (born February 15, 1999) is an American football quarterback.

He plays college football for Ball State.

He previously played for Alabama, Arkansas State, and Texas State.

Hatcher was born on February 15, 1999, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

He attended and played high school football for Pulaski Academy in Pleasant Valley, Arkansas.

Hatcher was a three-year varsity starter for the school as he finished as Arkansas high school football's all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns with 15,483 yards and 185 touchdowns.

As a starter he had a record of 41–1 including four-straight Class 5A state championships.

As a senior in 2017 he passed for 5,779 yards and 66 touchdowns.

He was an All-Conference and All-State player for his sophomore through senior year while also earning the honors of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Offensive Player of the Year, Hootens.com 5A Offensive Player of the Year, and Gatorade Arkansas Football Player of the Year during his senior year.

After originally committing to Arkansas State, Hatcher switched his commitment to Alabama.

He did not play for the Crimson Tide, but was a member of the team's Orange Bowl win and during their appearance against Clemson in the National Championship.

After the season he announced his intent to transfer from the team.

On April 15, 2019, Hatcher committed to Arkansas State—the school he originally committed to out of high school.

Hatcher entered the 2019 season as the backup to incumbent starter Logan Bonner.

He made his college football debut against No. 3 Georgia in week three.

He entered the game early in the fourth quarter with nine minutes left.

After three straight runs by running back DJ Chatman, Hatcher completed his first career pass for 45 yards to Jonathan Adams Jr. After another run and a completion to Bubba Ogbebor, he threw his first career interception to Lewis Cine in the redzone.

He finished the game going three of five for 53 yards and an interception.

He also ran the ball once for five yards.

He made his first career start against Troy in week five as Bonner was dealing with an injury to his throwing hand.

In his debut he threw for 440 yards and four touchdowns in a 50–43 win over the Trojans.

Following the game he was named a Manning Award Star of the Week winner.

Bonner's hand injury would sideline him for the rest of the season as Hatcher became the fulltime starter.

After losing back-to-back games against Georgia State and Louisiana he led the team to four start wins over Texas State, Louisiana–Monroe, Coastal Carolina, and Georgia Southern.

In that span he threw for 300 yards twice against Louisiana–Monroe in the team's 48–41 win and against Georgia Southern in the team's 38–33 win.

To finish off the regular season the team fell to South Alabama 30–34 as Hatcher once again threw for 300 yards.

The team earned a bid in the Camellia Bowl against FIU.

Facing off against James Morgan and the Panthers, he threw for 393 yards, for his third-straight 300-yard performance, and four touchdowns.

After a punt on FIU's first possession, he led the Red Wolves on a fifteen-play-80-yard touchdown drive that ended with a four yard touchdown pass to Omar Bayless.

The team won 34–26 to finish the season 6–3.

He finished the season with 27 touchdown passes, which was good enough for tied-second all-time in program history.

Following the season he was named Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year.

In 2020, with Bonner back as the starter, Hatcher maintained his role as a backup like the start of the previous season.

Despite not starting a game for the Red Wolves, he finished as the team's leading passer.

Bonner and Hatcher alternated drives in the team's season-opener against Memphis.

With Bonner getting the start and leading a touchdown drive on the first drive of the game he stayed in four the second drive and went three-and-out.

Hatcher came in on the team's third drive and led an eight play drive for 84 yards that ended in a one-yard touchdown run for Isaiah Azubuike.

The two would continue to switch in, and out, of the game as Bonner finished with two interceptions and Hatcher finished as the team's leading passer as they lost 24–37.

Against Kansas State, Bonner once again started, but Hatcher threw the game-winning touchdown pass with 38 seconds left in the game to Jonathan Adams Jr. for a seventeen yard touchdown.

He was named the Manning Award Star of the Week following the game.