He was told he would never play football again. Now Laiatu Latu is the Pac-12 defensive player of the year.
The star edge rusher is the first Bruin to be named the conference’s top defensive player since defensive lineman Brian Price in 2009. Latu led the resurgent UCLA defense with 21.5 tackles for loss, which also ranked first in the country and was the first for a Bruin since Anthony Barr in 2012.