Utah's secondary got even more reinforcements today with the signing of Kamo'i Latu, a three star safety out of St. Louis H.S. in Honolulu, HI. With two starting safeties graduating and the depth chart uncertain behind them, it was critically important that the staff loaded up on defensive backs in this recruiting class, and Latu's signing will go a long way towards ensuring that the safety depth is solid for years to come.

Along with Utah, Latu also held offers from USC, Washington, Washington State, Virginia, Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon State, and some G5 schools. As a senior, he helped lead a dominant defense which was a key factor in St. Louis claiming the state championship with a 45-6 victory over another storied Hawai'i high school program, Kahuku H.S.

EVALUATION

Not much to go on here film wise, unfortunately. Seems to be a physical safety, especially in press coverage. Good speed. I’d love to see more film.

-Cal Beck, Utah defensive back, 1994-96

WHAT THIS SIGNING MEANS

Latu is a hard hitter who has no problems with coming up into the box and helping defend the run. He also has the speed to get out and defend tosses and sweeps to the edge. Latu has a lot of experience playing in single-high coverage, which will help him as he transitions to Utah's defense. He showed some things in his film which have the coaches very excited about him, and if he continues to learn and develop, he has the potential to turn into a similar type of player as Julian Blackmon at safety. Of course, he still has things to work on, but Latu has great upside and it wouldn't be surprising to see him work his way into the two-deep even as a true freshman.

FORMER UTE PLAYER COMPARISON: Eric Rowe (at safety)