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UCLA Football: Laiatu Latu Takes Center Stage in Reese's Senior Bowl Matchup of The Week

Rising draft boards are on his mind.

Caleb Nguyen

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UCLA boasts plenty of talent on their roster, but none of them quite possess the high draft hype of edge rusher Laiatu Latu. 

Latu has yet another opportunity on Saturday to showcase his many skills in an important conference matchup against Oregon State. 

The Beavers' stud duo on their offensive line will be key players to watch in efforts to stop one of the best defensive players in the country. 

In a suddenly stacked Pac-12 conference to start 2023, both teams will want this pivotal victory for an advantage in the standings by December. 

For Oregon State, such strength comes in their elite duo from their offensive line, who hope to keep DJ Uigaleilei's pocket clean all game long. 

Getting the offense churning against Latu and UCLA's improved defensive unit is of the utmost importance, as a loss for either team could spell disaster for either's conference title hopes. 

The Bruins' offense likely feels the same as Dante Moore's freshman season has shown plenty of up and down as UCLA's starting quarterback. 

Since the team's Week 3 blowout win, the Bruins' failure to launch lost their game against Utah and nearly cost them their recent contest against the Washington State Cougars. 

Latu and his unit have done their job after they stifled the Utes and Cougars to a combined 31 points over their last two contests. 

The edge rusher's five sacks and two forced fumbles thus far into 2023 only go to solidify his projected high draft pedigree. 

According to the latest mock draft, the Bears could take Latu with a top-five draft pick after a trade down to a quarterback-hungry team. 

Caleb Williams is slated to be April's No. 1 overall pick, but whoever gets Latu can claim possibly the best defender in college football. 

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Caleb Nguyen
CALEB NGUYEN

Caleb is a recent graduate of Cal Poly Pomona with his B.S in Communications through Multimedia Journalism. Always having a deep love of sports, sportswriting has always been a passion of his.

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