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SALT LAKE CITY — Cameron Latu took the road less traveled from Olympus High to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the College Football national championship game.
The next step on the road will bring him back west — to the Bay Area.
The 6-foot-4, 242-pound tight end was selected with the penultimate pick of the third round by the San Francisco 49ers, the No. 101 overall pick and 38th pick of the third round via a compensatory selection.
"Latu is smooth and does a good job of leveraging his routes," wrote ESPN's Steve Muench of Latu. "He plucks on the run and quickly transitions upfield after the catch. Latu is light with shorter arms, but he takes sound angles, gets into position and walls off defenders as an in-line blocker."
Latu was the ninth tight end selected in the first three rounds, setting a record for the most through that point of the draft since 1967. The run started with Utah's Dalton Kincaid going to the Bills with the 25th overall selection Thursday night and continued through Latu's penultimate pick of the third round.
Originally from Chisholm, Minnesota, Latu and his family moved to the Holladay area in 2013, where he blossomed alongside his twin brother Nathan in football and rugby for the Titans. After redshirting his first season in Tuscaloosa, Latu moved from linebacker to tight end, played mostly on special teams for two seasons, and was promoted to starting tight end for the Crimson Tide in 2021.
That versatility, as well as a mentality of moving around for the better adjustment of the team, stood out to San Francisco general manager John Lynch, he explained to the media late Friday night.
"I think he's a versatile player in that he's good in both the run and the pass," Lynch said. "He went to Bama as a linebacker, and I think he plays like that. He's an aggressive player, he's a competitive player, and when you watch film with him, his recall is really good. .... We like the skillset, and we like the mentality."
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan meet with the media to recap day two of the #49ersDrafthttps://t.co/UHrUpbmNSV
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) April 29, 2023
Latu, a one-time BYU commit, opened that season with two touchdowns in a 44-13 win over Miami in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, and added a career-high five catches for 102 yards and a touchdown in the national championship game against Georgia. He finished the season with 26 catches for 410 yards and eight touchdowns.
In five seasons at Alabama, Latu caught 56 passes for 787 yards and 12 touchdowns in 51 games, while also playing on special teams in appearances in the 2020 Citrus Bowl, 2021 Rose Bowl, 2021 Cotton Bowl Classic and 2022 Sugar Bowl with the Tide.
Most importantly, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said, was that Latu got better over the course of his college career — from his linebacker days to filling in for an injured tight end to assuming the role of full-time starter under Nick Saban and former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
"He looked like a good player, but he also got better throughout the year and we liked his body," Shanahan said. "Knowing that he played linebacker and then switched over … we think he can get a lot better in the run game and the pass game. ... We see this guy as both. That's important to us for all of our tight ends."
