are John Nelson, David Latu, and Luke To'omalatai. We need these 3 guys to step up and stay healthy in the worst way. After those 3 our interior DL drops off to a bunch of undersized guys like Joshua Singh, Blake Mangelson, Sani Tuala, Dallin Havea, and John Tamopeau, all of whom weigh between 270-285.
I will be watching these 3 guys very closely. We need them to show out or the D-line is in serious trouble:
John Nelson - 6'4/290 - Senior. An experienced DL who played a lot in 2021 and started 11 games in 2022. He was banged up last season, only playing in 5 games. He has gone back and forth between DE and DT throughout his career but he's beefed up to 290 and will be counted on as a DT this year. He has 46 career tackles and 3.5 sacks. We really need him to stay healthy and have a big senior year.
David Latu - 6'4/305 - Junior. An 83 grade 3-star JUCO transfer from Snow College in the class of '23, Latu held offers from Washington State, Utah State, and BYU. He was a JUCO All-America 2nd team performer at Snow. In 2023 he was cleared late, missing the first 2 weeks of fall camp and got banged up and played sparingly, recording 6 tackles on the season. Jay Hill's defense needs Latu to emerge this year.
Luke To'omalatai - 6'2/315 - Junior. 85 composite 3-star JUCO transfer from Long Beach City College, he held offers from Houston and numerous G5's. Rivals JC First Team All-American. Intriguing stats at Long Beach as a sophomore where he showed an ability to be disruptive in the backfield with 8.5 sacks and 12.5 TFL. Really need Luke to be ready to contribute immediately in the 2-deep.