UCLA Football: Now A Colt, Laiatu Latu Looks Back On Medical Retirement Pre-Bruins

He certainly seems ready to ball out at the next level.

All-American UCLA Bruins superstar defensive end-turned-Indianapolis Colts rookie Laiatu Latu may be heading to the NFL now, but his football fate prior to joining the Blue and Gold was anything but guaranteed.

After an encouraging freshman season with the Washington Huskies in 2019, he incurred a scary neck injury prior to the 2020 season. The ailment required a cervical fusion surgery, and he was sidelined for the season. After that, he was compelled to medically retire prior to spring practices in 2021.

According to George Bremer of CNHI Sports Indiana, Latu revealed that he hadn't even consulted with a medical doctor in person prior to this decision, due to restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.

“At that time, it was COVID, and it was just a funky time, and it just wasn’t handled in the right way,” he said. “I didn’t have any physical examinations with any doctor at that time, so really it was just an opinion of somebody’s without even looking at my physical, without giving me a test and stuff like that. So I feel like they were just doing what they felt best, but at the same time I feel like it wasn’t really handled in the best way.”

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