On a night where the final whistle culminated a seemingly long, inclement seven-plus hour ordeal, the 2019 loss to California also marked the unofficial start to the career of Laiatu Latu.
It was the second game in the young career of the freshman edge rusher, who played twice as many snaps in the season opener against Montana (16) that he did against the Golden Bears.
Latu recorded his first career sack on Chase Garbers in the second quarter that night, September 7, one of two he would have in his first year at Washington. He finished the game as the highest graded Husky defender, based on Pro Football Focus’ grades.
He appeared to be on track to flourish in Purple and Gold. Now, 19 months later, Latu is done with his football career.
On Wednesday, UW head coach Jimmy Lake announced that the junior suffered a neck injury in 2020.
He did not appear in any of the Huskies four games last season. After consulting five specialists from across the country, Lake said that Latu had to medically retire.
Latu had on March 17 and will rejoin the team at practice this spring in a student-assistant role.
“He's doing fine, he's recovering, but he's going to have to retire from football,” Lake said at his opening press conference.
“Our hearts go out to him and his family. This is part of this physical game. Unfortunately, we're always going to have to deal with some difficult injuries like this. So yeah, we're going to be surrounding him with love and support and he'll be with us until he finishes his degree."
The Huskies signed Latu out of Jesuit High School in Sacramento, California in the 2019 class, one of nine four-star defensive recruits to sign with the program that year – twice as many as any other class except for 2015, when UW signed five four-star prospects on defense.
Even though Latu won’t finish out his football career on the field, having him stay at the school and involved in the program is significant. His presence in the outside linebacker room will be missed, but Lake noted the depth UW also has at the position.
“Of course, Laiatu wasn't with us last year, sadly, but that group progressed and played really, really well,” Lake said. “Obviously with Zion (Tupuola-Fetui) being an all-conference player and with all the production that he had.
“We have some young talent and some old guys. We've got Ryan Bowman and Jordan Lolohea, who hopefully you're going to see more of here coming up. Sav'ell (Smalls), we added Jeremiah (Martin), and we've got some young guys coming in; Maurice Heims.”
Though there is an abundance of talent, there is no question Lake would rather have Latu as a contributor, if it were in the cards.
“We're adding to the room,” he said. “Of course, we'd love to have Laiatu back, though."
Bowman is the veteran of the outside linebacker position group and returns for his senior season as the leading sacker with 12, five more than junior Zion Tupuola-Fetui who emerged on the scene in place of Bowman (and Latu) with seven in 2020.
Only three other defenders have recorded at least one sack – excluding transfer defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles, who recorded one in his final season at Oklahoma last year – and none of them are edge defenders.
Junior inside linebackers Edeufan Ulofoshio (four) and MJ Tafisi (one) join defensive lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa (one) as the other three Huskies who have a sack to their name entering 2021.
Martin, a transfer from Texas A&M who initially chose the Aggies over UW out of Cajon High School (San Bernardino, Calif.) in the 2018 class, spent a majority of his first spring practice with the second-team defense and is expected to be a contributor this fall.
