Laiatu Latu talks his pass rusher comparisons, adjusting to NFL life, College Football realignment

Published Jul 10, 2024, 10:00 AM

On the latest Off the Edge with Cam Jordan podcast, Colts first-round pick Laiatu Latu joins Cam from the Sack Summit in Las Vegas. The guys start out talking about how Laiatu’s college football journey from University of Washington to UCLA. He then shares how in shock he was to be the first defensive player taken in the 2024 Draft. Cam then gives Laiatu advice on how to achieve his goals as a young player entering the league. Laiatu then shares what he’s looking forward to learning at the Sack Summit hosted by Cam, Von Miller and Maxx Crosby. Laiatu also names the pass rushers he believes his game compares to. And Cam and Laiatu discuss college football realignment and the Cal vs. UCLA rivalry. That, and much more! So, tap in!

The Off the Edge with Cam Jordan podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Radio.

Welcome on in. Here we go another episode of Off the Edge with me your host Cam Jordan, And I'm just I'm just excited I'm here at the Las Vegas Sack Summit, you know, myself, Max Crosby von Miller putting on this collective of edge rushers, of past rushers, of defensive line men, just on the men part, because I mean, I just feel like it takes a real man to get into trenches, and here we are, hopefully the future of the trenches. My guy, Lie too Lot too, appreciate you, man, Did I say that right? Lie too Lot too? Yeah, somewhere in there, I appreciate you tapping in with the cast.

Man. No, I appreciate you.

I mean I've been watching you since pretty much high school college ball year.

Look like you was up up there, you know, Sacramento Sacktown Finance. You guys, you guys had some some guys go through. Eric Armstead, the Carl Granderson's Shaq Thompson. Of course I played with Shaq Thompson's older brother for real, cow bro.

Really yeah, Thompson, Dann, that's crazy.

That's what I'm saying. I'm old in this thing, but I mean so for you to get to Let's just talk about how you even get to UCLA from Sack. How do you pass up the bank? Your brother's at at Cal.

We just pass up. I know I was.

I was loving Cal too because I knew Jack Clark, their rugby coach, and he was loving me too, so I was gonna go play rugby there too. Rugby, Yeah, I was doing all the col like the little they had like high school camps every summer. I was going to that like every summer, and just like the we about camps, Well, no, it's like high school. So like they're trying to earn like tags, because like you can't earn a full scholarship, but you can earn like a tag to get in. But I was just going out there because I love rugby, So I was just doing my thing. I was going to play rugby on the side too. But I mean, coach Peterson came in for a home visit and just changed my whole mind, changed everything about the game. Like he's coming in talking about you know, it's not about the next four years, but it's about the next forty years. And like as a high school I was kind of like nervous going on the next steps and like he just kind of made it comfortable for me.

Yeah, dang yeah. And so you went on to that soft ass blue I mean the powder blue and gold down to U C l A and y'all. Y'all got us this past season, not the year before. But I'm not I'm not gonna lie to you, bro. I have nothing but hopes and dreams for Cal. But it's been a rough ten years to watch. Like when I was there, it was first rounders at the first round, you know, it was job at Best and before him, you know whatever, it was Marshawn Lynch and before him, like there was always a first round or plus talent beyond the second round is crazy, you know. And then after that, I think I was the last first round picked till Jared Goff and then since Jerry really hasn't been the.

First round nobody.

You know that tells you about the program.

Yeah, that's true.

I Mean my brother went through a lot of things there too, negative things too, So I'm glad you're about it.

There, man, you know, like it's I got hopes and dreams for Cal. But so you go through UCLA, you get drafted teeth, throt roll and fiftee through row doesn't tell the true story because really you're like a lottery pick. You're the first defensive player to be taking off the board. You know, tell me how that felt in the green room because this year they changes every year, so you know, you're in the green room and you're like, yeah, you think you're gonna go somewhere.

I wasn't even thinking about it at first, and I didn't know I was the first defensive person. Like when I'm back, I was sweating through my suit, nervous and like walking back and forth. But once I learned about it afterwards, I was like, damn, that's crazy. Like I just felt like, you know, like him dunk kind of yeah. But I didn't know how to describe those feelings, like it's just it was crazy this everything that I've been through them to be like the first defense is coming pretty yeah the next morning.

Big ink.

Yeah, one of these days, I'm gonna give me a big piece of ink too.

Now you got to.

That. Did it hurt?

Certain parts hurt bro the inside the inside bike.

Keep I keep hearing about the like the inside arm and then like the this part, I was sweating, Like.

Okay, but you're gonna be silid. You can get some numbers spray too, no, no before like a man, but the numbers. The only thing I'm gonna.

Do is get this legacy. Bro, Like I'm gonna get the legacy. Chap hops on me and then meal and then if if my son act the.

Right way, you get the other boy get on your thigh. Yeah, bro, I got this like piece right here. But she did it kind of small, so I say go big, like you gotta go big.

If I'm gonna have one piece to like stand on, it's gonna be the legacy. So you can draft this. Tell me, tell me what's your biggest adjustment so far in the NFL.

Biggest adjustment is really just we're just getting used to the facility, like being comfortable in there, like knowing where to go and stuff like that. That's really the biggest adjustment. Other than that, on the field is great. I just get to learn more about pastress. I mean, I'm I'm pretty like well off when I'm in the indies and stuff like that. Like I can do the drills up to you know how quitting them are doing it, learning the plays. That's it's not crazy hard, especially when you got dudes like e Buck and and Quitty so saw them helping out too, So I mean, I'm at a great place.

You're sort of stacked that line. Yeah, you're sort of stacked. If you think about de Buck and how he just got the extension, so he gonna be saying like he's gonna be there, and he's there's probably top as they come in terms of tiror d Lineman and of course Quitty. You and now you're like, you're already formidable, and then they already got two other defensive ends.

You're like, I'm saying, the run game is gonna go crazy with Raycon Davis and Grove Grover Stewart bru. I know we're gonna be crazy.

It looked good on paper and then and then the season takes off. And I've had seasons where you look phenomenal on paper, like were about to kill him, and then you end up like what happened? Or you would be like, ah, we'll be all right, and the stellar season.

So I mean, it's usually always the same thing that like is why y'all can't like win, even though you think you know you got a team.

It's always the same.

It's little like you could have an excellent team, excellent you know, players at each position, but it's about like, how are you gelling as a defense, how are you gelling as a team? What's your locker room? Right? It's literally a game of interest for that reason. So you're going to have those times where it's like, bro, we're always so close. There was one season where we lost like six or seven games, but they were all by like one score or less. It was all like, oh we lost by four, we lost by three. So those interests that cleanup is the difference can be like, oh, I didn't you know I rushed high and my other defensive rush high. So quarterback escaped a couple of times, led some leaky yardists, lead to whatever it was, or it's whatever, whatever it is. It's always you can always turn on the film, but like point out two or three things like, bro, we were just tighten up on here. And so even like you look at it on some of the best seasons where you go thirteen to three or whatever it is, you're like, yo, we're winning these games by this like a slim margin, but we're winning them. And it's because, like, Bro, I know exactly where my D line is or I can see the sync that's happening on offense, Like I see all these routes being ran in practice hitting, so they're hitting in the game, and so you're practicing these these habits and killing it in practice, so it just transfers over to the game. So I mean the advice for you early is just create your best habits in practice so you're true to your motor.

Yeah, now that's what that's That's one thing that I've been noticing too, because everybody bringing it every day.

Man, man, hey, lunch pail going to work, because that's your craft. This is your craft. Like it's one thing to like it, one thing to love it. It's another thing to earn it. You know, everybody can say, oh I love this, but do you really are you putting in the work? Are you showing up at six seven o'clock in the morning to get your work out in before the words or are you in your prehabit which prehab now is all world because when I first got the league, you were like, damned if you hit the three recab room. Are you like, oh you hurt? No, bro, I'm just I'm just trying to get you know, my mobilities now It's like, are you not in the rehab room? Are you not stretching? Are you not a plate? No, bro, I'm not a pilot. I'm not a yogi. Kiss my whole, dear.

I mean.

We'll be right back, but I mean, so, so now you're here Las Vegas at the Sack Summit, just just tell me what you're looking forward to.

I'm really just looking forward to, you know, what all the vest got to say, and just little things I can pick up on to you know, improve my game, especially in like that power mode and how to work off your power to to finesse or you know, just really how to work off that power where there's counter after or edge move after. But really just trying to like hopefully I can like get a better understanding of that, like while I'm here.

To create these teching combos. Yeah, so it's all about more moves, you know. You you look at the you know, the pass rushers. You got t j Y, you know, hit you with the hits you that the rip and then that tuck been.

I've been wrapping that hella, wrapping that hella.

You know you good past ot as. Now you're out here, you say you're trading out.

In l A.

Yeah you still you still like you cla training.

Out now you still they still got my fingerprint there, still putting in work.

There like like yeah, coach, I ain't leave, I'm here work all right. So so as you're going in, so you're breaking down film, who are you trying to immolate your past rush games after?

Really like it's Max Frost T J. Watt type creating havoc.

Yeah, really just creating having getting off that rock, playing with like that relentless effort. That's why I like mass carsby a lot too, because like he played like it's his last snap pretty much every time, right, And so I mean when he's working one move to another, that's how I'm trying to be. Like I'm trying to be no stop working to move, not stop getting to the QB. And you know, I'm really just trying to like incorporate that in my game, right.

Six.

Yeah, I remember, uh, you know, just because we've got saying the same agents. You know, I remember the draft comparison with Trey Hendrickson. I was like, bro, he got like three inches on tree speed off the edge, Like who do you like? Who do you think your game most resembles.

I feel like, I mean, it's a stress because I don't like, you know, y'all y'all crazy, y'all. You know, y'all, y'all town is crazy. But I mean I feel like Crosby, like t J. Watt, just in terms of like body sized, body type, in terms of moves.

Max next to six four six five. But bro, me and Max are all close. You got me by like an injury and half, I swear, But I mean just your passion from when I first met you at the draft till now, you just seem like you genuinely, like genuinely love the game. Yeah, and that like I can feel that, you know, like, what is it about you not taking the game for granted, you going through your injuries, whatever it is to get you here? What makes you love the game or whatever it is at this point.

At first, it was that like that brotherhood and that's still a thing for me, like that brotherhood, that camarderie in the locker room and all that, Like I lived for that. But when that was like taking away and I had to really be on my own, I had to, like you know, because I was treating football like it's my job already. So once that was taken away. I really yeah.

And so like before before the neck.

Injury, I treated football like a job already, this is what I wanted to do. And once it was like taking away, it's kind of like damn, Like you know, it's not like what do I do now, it's just you know what, you know, do I want to continue like working like like I want to you know, gain you know this act and like look for clearance. And I really told myself like if it's not football, it's nothing. And I really just worked every day like there was a game that weekend. I was working like you know, I was going to get that clearance. So I was in the locker room, I was in the meeting rooms at times, you know, watching stuff. But really like I was talking to my coach back at you do, coach Molloy, like he was like the one person really that was like you know, pushing me to keep training and keep doing what I can to get on the field because I knew my body, I knew you know, what I could what I could keep doing. I went to go do rugby two weeks after or two months after my surgery and trying to get back to football. Yeah, out here popping popping. But that's but that's what I'm saying. I'm going back to like some of my roots because it helped me like push through. So like the conditioning, I got to stay on top of my conditioning. But then it was like a test to myself because the grown man running out, grown men running out there, and you know, I want to test like myself where I could tackle, knock and run with him. And I went out there, I was doing that, popping these old men. So I mean, you know, that just gave me more confidence to be like, you know, I can still do this football thing. And so that just really carried me on and found the clearance. Like a couple of months later, shout.

Out to Rugby. Never didn't see that, but no doubt give you that love back to the game. Yeah, oh man, I mean you got brothers that that play football as well.

Yeah, my little brother over at Washington Kalecki, that's where you went to. Yeah, lots of good I know, bro, he a hard worker. Two and yeah it's tough. It's tough.

So yeah you dubbed Now, Okay, Still, I was gonna say they played stayed in the pack. How do you feel about the pack? I don't in the pack anymore.

I don't like it because, like I feel like that's the best conference by far, just because it's always unpredictable.

Man, you have no idea, Like it's so much inner, Like, yeah, we could be so good, except we're so destructive towards each other.

That's what I'm saying.

And I don't even really like I don't like watch football like that unless it's like film, but like Pato maybe want to watch because like it was just like you never knew what was going to happen, like.

Arizona, Arizona takeoff, yeah, or State just took and then I know now I don't even know where I don't even know where these schools ended up.

Like that's what I'm saying.

Pack at like Oregon stay in Washington, stay are like in their own little thing with Mountain West teams.

I think, huh, so they're gonna run that.

Cayles Stanford is joined the ACC, which a West Coast team now plays predominantly East Coast teams. How does that even work? Yeah, the flight's gonna be all school started this ship U c l A. You see went over to the big big twelve.

That's true. We did start it. I don't know why though.

The Big ten is.

Don't even know how many schools is in the Big ten. That's just misleading. There's fourteen ten, there's thirteen schools in Big twelve. Pack made the most sense. It was a pack eight. We expanded to Pack ten, Pack ten to pac twelve. You keep up with how many schools you have? Big ten over there, like the SEC, they don't know what they want to do.

I can't read clearly. I'm upset about that, all right. So what do you do in your free time when you're not training, when you're not getting ready?

Shoot, I'm like an outdoors person, so like I'll be outside. I don't hunt. I want to get into NYO. No one's ever taking me though, but I want to get.

You come down to Louisiana. There's there's nothing, and I'm gonna leave that alone. But yeah, bro, so outdoors like you're talking about, like being Mexican biking.

To just really going to the beach is like looking at you know, kind of scenery or whatever. But listening to music, I don't serve.

If no said going to the beach, I'm just throwing through.

Okay, I'm like a chill guy like I'm a I'm a boring type guy, Like I'll just go outside, be by myself, listen to music, Okay, yeah, and then football is all my life.

So I feel like the.

Main thing, the main thing, absolutely, bro. You got to you know what I mean. You're going from you know, thirteen games in college was fourteen games now yeah, to now you enter in a seventeen week situation.

Yeah. I heard about that with three preseason games.

So really for you your first year, you eating twenty games.

Yeah, that's why people were asking me, like, you know you're trying to go anywhere like this off season.

I'm really like.

Noah, like a football season coming.

Up, just like especially my first year, Like, let me just lock in real quick.

Absolutely all right, So what you what you're looking forward to your first year? Do you have goals? Sat down, dide like, I'm gonna tell you this. Like when I got drafted, I literally sat down. I was like, all right, this time'n win, Like I'm gonna have eight sacks I put up. I put up these these goals that meant nothing because I didn't have the road to get to the goal.

Yeah.

Right, I was like, I'm gonna have eight sacks, i'mna have fifty tackles and like ten ti fils. And that didn't set up any of that because I'm like, that's how like that's what I want. But I tell myself how I was going to get there. I see, you know, Like, so do you have goals in mind?

I really only have one as rookie Defensive Player of the Year, and I haven't set up like structurally what I want to do, but like I just take it as like every moment I can, I'm trying to put you know, whether it's film, where it's on the field stuff where I'm going through like you know, walking through steps, doing passion and stuff like that. When I'm doing some any type of thing dedicated to football with my time on, I feel like that's gonna help me lead me to, you know, being able to achieve that. So it's really just taking any time like I have, like free and like being smart about it too, like you know, taking my curvery time whatever. But anytime I have I really dedicated to football.

I love it all. Listen to music, all right, stay tuned, we'll be right back. Game day in college. Now, you pros, what are you listening to?

Show a little bit of everything really, like some rod if R and B song will like you know, make in Yeah, I'll listen to that. Some Bob Marley here and like you know, some rap here, a little bit of everything.

Uh now this is Motley Crew.

I don't know what that means. I have not heard that name in years for real. Come on, I assume that's rock?

Is that? Yeah? I love all type of music.

We let Apple, we let the play lists play, and like if if it posps up, there's no music I won't listen to. E said possibly blue grass. Let me not say that out loud, because like bluegrass is just too too country for me really, but like I love all music country, I love I can. I finally can get behind country. And it took Louisiana to do it.

Really, Yeah, come.

On, because I'm coming from the West Coast and like I went from you know, high school. For me, I'm I was big four x tall teas heh fee movement strong out there, you know what I'm saying. I'm like, as soon as like the college I got my eight slug, I'm like I need I need that bottom gold grill, Like you know what I'm saying. So like country music was the furthest thing away from where I was going on. I think Sojio Boy might have might have been hitting his tride.

No facts.

I grew listening to mac drestills like that to my mom. Mom listening to any type of music, like country, rab like R and B. So she was just listening to anything that sounded good. I think that's what.

You know, you had temptations had I had? I you know, I had old black Christian mom. You know what I'm saying. I'm in the car listen to everything but nothing but R and B. You know, all the old school joints. The pop's gonna bring in the disco vibe like the afro the afro disco, afro af vibes hitting it heavy man.

Yeah, she loved in there did.

Not bring me the Motley Crew.

Really, that's that's what you watched the movie. The movie is pretty good.

I'm not big on movies though, Like there's there's a time and place for everything. And for some reason the last couple of years, I've been so far away from me too.

I haven't been watching a lot either. But I watched it back when I was that you do. I thought it was a good movie and it's on my shirt and we were talking about it.

Yeah, I'm not gonna get there, but I love that for you. Okay, do you play instruments? Okay, I played the recording. Love that. I love that because I'm like, I'm like, i'd love to. In fact, a couple of off seasons, I've bought a guitar try to learn it. Yeah, I'm not musically inclined.

Nah, I want to learn to play the piano.

Tried that too, Yeah yeah, in fact, I tried it and then my brother brother in law picked it up and now he's amazing. So shout out to see him at a Bally for you, pushing out the great piano vibes and like he has an ear for it. He'll like hear a song and really figure it out. And I'm like, huh, yeah, you can't get to I got nothing for you. It's like it's like me when I'm I'm typing on the computer, everybody's here with it. I'm like, yeah, I got this.

No, but you're doing it quick though.

I'm doing the same ways, just like this not looking up.

It's evil work. But shoot, okay, hey bro, like I want to make this quick. I just appreciate you stopping on the pod. Bro, appreciate I wish you nothing but the highest form of success. You deserve everything that's coming your way, and you clearly have earned the right to be in this league. So this first year, I'm gonna say, don't put heavy expectations on you, but have the mindset that you already have. You got to earn it each every day. So appreciate you just stopping on the pod, you know, off the edge with your host. Kim Jordan's lied to lied too up in this thing. If you want to say, right, correct me.

You got to lie to lie too.

Yes, Okay, I'm sure there's a middle name in there that I'm not.

Even gonna try.

But appreciate you, my guy.

I appreciate you.