Junior College Defensive Tackle Latu Maile Commits to Oklahoma State

Days after reports surfaced that 2017 defensive tackle signee Fua Leilua was no longer with the OSU program, OSU has seemingly found its replacement in junior college transfer Latu Maile.

Latu is the younger brother of recently-graduated Cowboy defensive tackle Mote Maile, who was a two-year letter-winner at OSU.

Bless to say that I will continue my journey to the University of Oklahoma State #GoPokes? pic.twitter.com/BmpGHeAe4c

— LatuMaile (@latumaile) July 29, 2017

Although it’s a late addition to the roster — Leilua’s late scratch opened up a big spot to fill, after all — Maile is expected to join the team and compete in fall camp according to gopokes.com.

Just like his older brother, Latu has good size at 6-foot-1, 305-pounds, and hails from Tyler Junior College where Mote originally came from.

In the 2016-17 season, Latu appeared in nine games and recorded 12 solo tackles and two tackles for loss.

With the addition of Latu, OSU again has experienced talent coming into fall camp with he and Enoch Smith Jr. at d-tackle, as well as young freshman Brendon Evers. Although Darrion Daniels and Dequinton Osborne appear slated for the biggest roles in 2017, Smith, as well as Maile, could play integral roles as rotation players — especially given the lack of depth after losing Vincent Taylor to the NFL earlier this spring.