While Keleki Latu played only the 2024 season for the University of Washington football team, Husky coach Jedd Fisch bemoaned the fact the late-blooming tight end couldn't have stayed longer in Montlake to have a better chance at becoming an NFL player.

Well, Latu has made the most of what he had.

After going undrafted, the 6-foot-6, 249-pound player signed as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills and has spent two years moving up the ranks of the franchise primarily as a blocker and a special-teams player.

However in this week's Monday Night Football game, Latu emerged from the shadows and his humble pro football beginnings to catch a 25-yard touchdown pass that gave the Bills the lead for good in a 23-6 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis.

With the game tied at 3, he worked his way to the end zone and was wide open when quarterback Josh Allen delivered the scoring toss to him with 44 seconds left in the first half.

Rightfully so, Latu and Allen celebrated the tight end's first NFL TD catch and first reception of the season.

“He was just super hyped for me,” Latu said. “He was just yelling in my face and I was yelling at his face and just getting hyped.”

Latu's touchdown catch helped the Bills to improve to 7-1, tying them with the San Francisco 49ers for the NFL's best win-loss record, which seemed apropos since the tight end hails from Sacramento.

“He’s a young player that’s just gotten better each and every year," Allen said. "He doesn’t complain ever. He finds himself in a spot tonight and makes a great play for us. I’ve got a lot of trust in him."

Latu, of course, is the younger brother of Laiatu Latu, an Indianapolis Colts edge rusher who began his career with great promise at the UW and had it end with a neck injury in 2020. Yet the older Latu was able to play again for UCLA and become an All-American selection and a first-round NFL draft pick, and now plays for the Indianapolis Colts.

The Latu brothers were reunited in 2024 at Husky Pro Day, when Laiatu showed up to support his brother as he auditioned for the pro scouts at Dempsey Indoor.

The Huskies had picked up Keleki Latu in the transfer portal from Nevada, and California before that, and made him a 12-game starter for Jedd Fisch's first UW team. He caught 40 passes for 371 yards and a TD.

For the Bills, Latu spent most of the 2025 season on the practice squad before he was elevated to an active roster spot. He appeared in five games as a rookie and caught 4 passes for 35 yards.

For now, he's probably the Bills' fourth-unit tight end. The Huskies turned him into a better blocker and it has served him well in the NFL. But he doesn't mind getting into the end zone when the opportunity arises.

“I thought, damn, this is about to be my first touchdown,” he said as Allen's pass came to him. “The ball was in the air for a long time, but I made sure I just caught the ball and secured it.”

Which is a lot like what the Bills have done with him.