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Even as his team falters, Keleki Latu is making strides as a UW Tight End

Posted on by Pranco
Even as his team falters, Keleki Latu is making strides as a UW Tight End

Riding a two-game losing streak following a decisive 31-17 setback at Indiana, the University of Washington football team may not appear to be making much progress lately. However, tight end Keleki Latu contradicts that argument.

On UW’s final push deep into Big Ten territory, the Nevada transfer and brother of a former Husky edge rusher came up with one of the most eye-catching plays of the season – late in the fourth quarter, Latu made a difficult catch, surrounded by a A large number of defenders 20 meters away from the field, immediately took a hard hit from two would-be tacklers on each side, somehow kept his feet and continued to run determinedly for another 16 meters before two more Hoosiers finally brought him down at the 10. the reception was his longest of the season.

“I feel like I’ve improved the most when I’m chasing the catch,” Latu said in an understatement.

The 6-foot-1, 244-pound Latu is a guy who came to UW as a high-transfer and has improved tremendously in his final season of college football, which was always the plan.

Although initially destined to be a backup to senior Quentin Moore, Latu watched his teammate go down with a serious knee injury just two quarters into the season and had to step up as an immediate replacement, especially with Moore still unable to return after missing seven straight games with no end in sight to his absence.

It didn’t all go smoothly for Latu, who led the way with right tackle Drew Azzopardi as the Huskies tried to win the Apple Cup on a late fourth-and-1 option run at the goal line, and the two continued to whiff. the leading blocs and Washington State ultimately won 24-19.

Tight end Keleki Latu comes up with a reception against Northwestern.

Tight end Keleki Latu comes up with a reception against Northwestern. / Skylar Lin images

He seems to be much more adept in the run game now. His receiving has also steadily improved, with Latu tallying 28 catches for 265 yards while looking for his first Husky touchdown reception. He has nearly doubled his receiving totals compared to each of his previous three seasons in Nevada and California before that.

He accomplished what he set out to do by coming to the UW, which was learning the position at a place that has a track record of putting a lot of tight ends in the pros.

“Especially in the run-and-pass game, to be able to be used as a versatile tight end,” he said of his reason for joining the Huskies.

His brother, Laiatu, went from the vaunted UW pass rusher who had to medically retire to playing again at UCLA at a high level and becoming a first-round draft pick for the Indianapolis Colts, and Keleki would like to follow him into the NFL.

“My goal is to be able to play with or against my brother,” he said.

With more plays like the one he turned in in Indiana, his chances of a Latu pro football reunion somewhere increase significantly each time.

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