Boise State Roster Countdown 2026: Day 92, David Latu

The 90s are almost done, folks! And, not confined to being the birth year of Taylor Lautner, “92” is also the jersey number of…

#92, David Latu, RS Senior, Defensive Tackle

Stats

Height: 6′ 4″

Weight: 325 lbs (+20)

High school: Bingham High School (South Jordan, UT)

How’d he get to The Blue™?

Circuitously. Latu was an all-state defensive end for Bingham, helping them to the 6A state championship in Utah in…2017 (!!!). His high school statistics are a little hard to pin down, but it appears he had some difficulty staying on the field, as MaxPreps only credits him with 3 games played his senior year (2018-2019). Regardless, he made enough of an impression that he was able to get on the team at Snow College when he returned from a two year church mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For those curious, he served primarily in Tonga, but also a little in CA. Presumably, that had something to do with COVID, because splitting time between two countries is not typical.

At Snow College, he earned NJCAA All-American honors and parlayed that into a spot at BYU. In his sophomore season with the Cougars, he played in 12 games and had six total tackles. In 2024, it appears his season was cut short after only two games with no stats. Being under four games last year would likely explain why he is still only a redshirt junior though. At any rate, his dark, BYU-y past is behind him and he is no longer burdened by the ick of Provo. He has now found his way to the correct place, with a superior logo on his helmet, on a field that is the only proper color for a football field.

Nickname

“DL”

It’s his initials, his position, and apparently where a lot of his athletic history resides because it took me longer than it should have (especially in the digital age) to confirm his high school was in fact “Bingham” and not “Brigham”. For the record, his Broncosports profile at the time showed one in the header and the other in the body of their profile…

Look-alike

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Career Highlights

14 games played at BYU with six tackles. 12 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and 4 TFLs at Snow College (in 9 games).

Last year, in the aforementioned much better place than Provo, David played in 12 games but started 6 of them. In those contests, he had 9 tackles, 3 TFLs, and to half sacks (so…one whole one?). That might not sound like much until you consider what the job his category of defensive tackle is tasked with. He’s mostly supposed to take up space to clog up rushing lanes or occupy offensive linemen so other players are free to make plays. He was actually pretty good at that!

Hudl highlights can be viewed here.

2026 Prospectus

He will be heavily featured on the defensive line as a starter or de facto starter. And, I don’t know what the strength and nutrition coaches have been doing this offseason, but some of these dudes have gotten much bigger. Latu is one of them. Heck, he might start two positions on the interior defensive line simultaneously with all the healthy weight he’s packed onto his already formidable frame.

Is he on Twitter?

Yes. @perseuslatu801. And it’s usually retweets, but occasionally he drops a verse on us.

Completely made up fact

If that Twitter/X handle is indicative of some deeper origins, this man is secretly the son of Zeus. In which case…could we maybe get him to lure his (half) brother here? I think we could use Hercules just about anywhere and he’d probably be more impressive than that one WSU had awhile back…