Latu on UW Transfer
Washington senior tight end Keleki Latu speaks with the media after day seven of fall camp about his decision to transfer to UW and following in the footsteps of his older brother, Laiatu Latu.
Transcript
00:00Why are you coming here?
00:02A lot.
00:03He always tells me to keep on working every day to make it to the league,
00:06just by being next to him.
00:10Did you ever look at Washington when you were coming out of high school?
00:13Yeah, definitely.
00:14I wish I could play with my brother in college.
00:16We played in high school together.
00:18So hopefully, I wish we were able to play in college.
00:21But it all worked out how it was.
00:24He had a big signing bonus.
00:26Did he take care of you in any way, shape, or form?
00:29He just took care of his family.
00:30That's all he does.
00:31That's all he's worried about.
00:32What's been the toughest part about running this offense for you so far?
00:35Just learning it.
00:36It's very complex for me, coming from two different schools.
00:39But Fish and Papa helped me dumb it down so that I can learn it fluently.
00:46What was their pitch to you when you were in the transfer portal to come here?
00:49There was no pitch.
00:51I just thought it was an opportunity to get better as a tight end, and to build.
00:54That's why I took it.
00:55Had you talked to the last staff when you were transferring from Cal before, or no?
01:00Talked to the last staff?
01:01No, I didn't.
01:04Did you get an offer from Washington coming out of high school, or not?
01:07No, I didn't.
01:07Okay.
01:09What was the injury you suffered at, and how did the recovery go from that?
01:12I suffered a left fibula injury.
01:15And during that game, it just twisted the wrong way.
01:18And I just recovered as soon as possible, only for six or eight weeks, not too long.
01:23But I recovered fully, and I'm ready to get back to work.
01:27How did you feel like that season was going for you before that happened?
01:30Nevada?
01:31I think it was a tough season, but I wanted to finish it out,
01:35not leave my brothers hanging.
01:36So I knew it was tough for not only me, but my teammates too.
01:40So I just try to keep them uplifted as much as possible.
01:45As a Nevada, you were kind of in a rebuilding situation.
01:47I don't know if it's kind of similar here, but
01:49what lessons do you take from that season?
01:52Just control what you can control.
01:55There's nothing else you can do other than work hard and
01:59do extra in the weight room and in the team room.
02:03Just studying film or getting through it.
02:06When you first started talking to this staff, how did they talk to you about
02:10the role of the tight end in this offense and how they kind of saw you fitting in?
02:14Just a big target, being a threat in the slot or in the wideout.
02:19And also being with Pavel, he's gonna help me teach that to also
02:24become a great blocker in the run game.
02:26So I wanna be able to be like a hybrid, both run and pass game.
02:31That is something Claymore's known pretty well for,
02:34is his ability to kind of mow people over.
02:36What have you learned from him in that regard of game?
02:39And do you kind of see him as the leader in that respect?
02:42Yeah, just being violent.
02:43Just being with him so far, he always just tells me he wants to win every red.
02:48He doesn't wanna lose at all, he wants to put him in the dirt.
02:51That helps me have that killer instinct.
02:54I know you've gotta take care of your own business, but
02:56do you feel like you have a chance to finish up for
02:58your brother here at Washington?
02:59Cuz it's a weird deal what happened to him here.
03:02Yeah, I wish he was able to finish here and
03:04he wishes he could be able to do it too.
03:06But hopefully I can finish out strong for him.
03:10Your teammates going by, giving you a little bit of a hard time and
03:13more than one, what's all that about?
03:15Just teammates being brothers, being goofballs and stuff like that.
03:19So it's amazing to be in that part of the brotherhood.
03:22Is it payback?
03:23Are you doing it to them too?
03:25A little bit, it goes both ways.
03:28You're one of about 70 or 80 newcomers to this football team.
03:31What's it been like bringing all these pieces together and
03:34trying to get to know one another and you can build that brotherhood?
03:36Yeah, I think it's a big, coming here, there's a big expectation we must uphold.
03:41And for me, I wanna be able to bring others along with me.
03:46And so I'm learning to be a leader through that process.
03:49And these young guys have to come up and
03:51they need that leadership from all these veterans.
03:54Does it make it a little easier to gel maybe knowing that there are so
03:57many new guys coming in all at the same time?
03:59Yeah, I mean, it's a process, it's just not gonna happen overnight.
04:03So I think we just gotta constantly every day talk to each other,
04:08ask how we're doing, stuff like that.
04:09Just the little things.
04:11What was your brother's reaction when you told him you were officially gonna be
04:14a Husky?
04:15He was excited for me to be able to get the opportunity to play at a high level and
04:19develop an even better tight end.
04:21What did you do on draft day when he got picked?
04:24Yeah, we were, I was shocked.
04:28And I was just so proud of him.
04:30I didn't think that he was real, and I was super happy for him through all that.
04:37Were you there with him or?
04:39Mm-hm.
04:39I was right next to him, yeah.
04:42All right, all right.
04:43Thank you very much.