Leki Fotu Overview
Position: Defensive line
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 330 lbs
Arms: 34 ¼”
Hands: 10 ⅝”
School: Utah
NFL Combine Performance Data
40 Yard Dash: 5.15 seconds
Three Cone Drill: N/A
Bench Press: 21 reps
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
Leki Fotu 2020 NFL Draft Profile
Playing for Utah’s Herriman High School, Fotu put together a strong senior campaign in which he totaled 79 tackles along with 7.5 sacks. The performance earned Fotu an All-State selection as well as a three-star recruiting profile which gained him an offer from the Utah Utes program. Despite possessing a rare blend of size and athleticism, Fotu received just one official division one offer. This was likely due to Fotu’s inexperience with football at the time as he spent his underclassman days of high school playing mostly rugby and basketball. Furthermore, Fotu missed his entire junior year of football before putting together an impressive senior season.
Fotu earned playing time as a true freshman in 2016 as he appeared in five games for Utah. Fotu took on a larger role the following season playing all 13 games, two of them starts, and recording 22 total tackles, 3.5 of them for a loss. In 2018, Fotu had a breakout junior year in which he earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors as he started 13 games and tallied 33 tackles along with three sacks. Fotu followed up his 2018 performance with another strong 2019 campaign in which he again earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors with 22 tackles through 13 games.
Strengths
- Amazing size and frame;
- Obvious strength, which his play style revolves around;
- Solid hands with strong punch and length enables extension from blockers;
- Two-gap potential given his size and strength;
- Surprising first step quickness for his body and fires into gaps with extreme force;
- Eye opening bull rush move when rushing the passer;
- Wide tackling radius and gap plugger.
Weaknesses
- Struggles with lateral mobility and often has little impact on sweep plays;
- Height results in leverage issues and inconsistent pad level;
- Footwork and foot speed needs improvement;
- Is not flexible with rushes or when shedding blocks;
- Does not have a huge tool box of pass rush moves.
NFL Comparison: Johnathan Hankins
Teams With Need at Position: San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans
Projection: Early third to early fourth round
Bottom Line on Leki Fotu
Fotu plays with overwhelming strength and power at the point of attack along with being a handful for interior offensive linemen. Additionally, Fotu packs a powerful punch and demonstrates the potential to be an impactful two-gapping early-down defender at the next level. Fotu’s bull rush is fun to watch and he is scary when tasked with maintaining one gap where he is given the freedom to fire off the football. While his footwork and leverage technique need improvement in order to help with his lateral mobility and consistency, Fotu’s pure strength will raise his draft stock. Furthermore, despite Fotu being considered a developmental prospect, he should see playing time immediately within early down situations as his brute strength and gap plugging ability will likely translate to the NFL fairly easily.
Main photo:
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