Source: Ryan Kang / Getty
INDIANAPOLIS – Everyone can see the stats, but it’s what Chris McGaha observed behind the scenes about Laiatu Latu that had the Colts west coast scout standing on the table for the UCLA pass rusher.
Football character is a major part of the Colts determining how high on the board a player eventually slots.
Latu’s two-year run at UCLA of 24.0 sacks (the most in college football) spoke for itself.
But it was McGaha having the boots on the ground to get the full story on Latu.
“You just like the guy’s grit,” the Colts scout shared after the team’s 2024 Draft. “We talk about that all of the time. Just trying to find guys who love football, and sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to try to find, ‘Do they really love it?’ But his was pretty easy to see, right? The things he had to go through, the things he had to overcome, it’s a unique story and a unique journey for him. It’s just a testament to him as a person, the kind of special makeup he has.”
“He just has a really down-to-earth demeanor and an easy presence, an easy go about him. He’s an easy guy to root for.”
Latu’s football career appeared over following his 2019 freshman campaign at Washington.
A neck injury forced Latu to medically retire from the game, after playing little as a freshman.
Eventual medical clearance would come though, and little did the Pac-12 know that Latu was putting in some serious work for a return.
“He’s studying YouTube to find pass rush moves and then he’s adding them to his repertoire,” McGaha said of what Latu was doing during those two years away from football. “This is a dude who for two years didn’t play football, comes off the couch, comes out of his house, and goes double-digit sacks two years in a row, just by practicing with himself.
“I just think the guy was born to rush the passer. I truly do.”
Part of the Colts’ attraction to Latu wasn’t strictly the impressive sack numbers.
No, Latu showed off versatility in where he lined up at UCLA, plus multiplicity in his pass rush moves, making believers in a quicker adjustment to NFL life as a rusher.
“You see the get-off right away,” McGaha says. “He can bend. He’s got a long list of pass-rush moves he puts in play all of the time. He can win up the field. He can win inside. He can come down the middle with power. He’s great with his hands. He’s got moves, and he’s got countermoves.
“He wants to go. He wants to take reps. He’s kind of fighting to take another rep. You fast forward (to) the Senior Bowl, he was the standout pass rusher down there. He did well at the combine, and you go to his pro day, and you watch him work out at his pro day, and he’s explosive. You feel the twitch. You feel the power.”
And the Colts feel this entire Latu package will lead to early impact for a team looking for more timely pass rushing.
