‘I know Utah prepares players to be in the NFL’: Can Caleb Lomu help make Utah history on Thursday?

When former Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding, now with Kyle Whittingham at Michigan, turned on Lomu’s high school tape, the offensive tackle’s flexibility and athleticism jumped out at him. Highland High in Gilbert, Arizona, ran a lot of screen plays, and Lomu’s ability to get out and block in space jumped off the screen. His arm length stood out, too.

Utah Utes offensive lineman Caleb Lomu (71) and work to block UCLA Bruins defensive lineman Devin Aupiu (44) as Utah Utes tight end Hunter Andrews (10) Utah and UCLA play at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2025. Utah won 43-10. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

“He was an easy evaluation in my opinion, and obviously that’s why he is a pretty high recruit as well,” Harding said.

247Sports composite ranked him the No. 13 offensive tackle in the country in 2023, and Harding and Utah had to beat out a number of big-time schools, including Florida, Oregon, USC and Washington, to land the prized prospect.

Even with his heralded high school career, Lomu didn’t instantly start in Salt Lake City. He was a traditional fall semester enrollee, meaning he didn’t participate in spring practices with the team. Lomu played in three games but redshirted his freshman season, allowing him to build more strength alongside getting to ease into college football as a member of the scout team.

Even as a freshman, Lomu’s recovery ability in blocking situations and his pass protection stood out, and after a year with Utah’s strength team and working with Harding, he was ready to start when the 2024 season rolled around.

Dialed in

Aside from his natural gifts, Lomu spent the necessary time in the film room and meeting room with Harding, sitting right in front of his offensive line coach during position group meetings.

“The reason I’m where I am now is because of him,” Lomu said of Harding in 2024. “Just taking his coaching, his experience. He played, he knows so much. His knowledge of the game, his experience of playing and coaching throughout the years. He knows what he’s doing and he knows where we can be as players.”

With a strong spring and fall camp, he worked his way into Utah’s starting lineup at left tackle as Spencer Fano moved from that position to right tackle. His first-ever collegiate start didn’t go as planned — he allowed two pressures and a quarterback hurry, and wasn’t as effective as the Utes wanted him to be in run blocking — but after those first-game jitters, he grew into a dependable force on the edge.

In his redshirt freshman season, he wasn’t perfect, but with his overall athletic profile and the time he spent in the film room, Lomu got better and better each game at one of the hardest positions in sports.

“I just think his ability to recover in pass protection, certainly his technique wasn’t as good as what it is now, but his overall athletic ability allowed him to be able to, if he did make a mistake technique-wise, he was able to recover,” Harding said. “Similar to Spencer, such a high care factor that he wanted to be great.

“And I knew he put the time in that there may be a little bit of inconsistency like there is with any young player, but I knew he would work his way through any of those inconsistencies.”

Getting noticed

Lomu earned freshman All-American honors after 2024, which despite Utah’s 5-7 record, was a personal success for him.

In 2025, he helped anchor one of the better offensive lines in football, clearing the way for school records in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. He ranked No. 24 in the country, per Pro Football Focus, in pass blocking grade (minimum 100 snaps), and though his run-blocking grade (68.4) could have been better, he was dependable and productive for the Utes and earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team.

Lomu allowed just eight pressures and no sacks in the 2025 season, and his athleticism really stood out when he was asked to block in space — just like it did in high school.

As for how his game will translate to the NFL, there’s a lot that scouts like about Lomu.

“I know in listening to some of the scouts throughout the season, just his foot speed, as I mentioned, his ability to redirect, that length is really what they’re looking for at that level, the arm length and all that sort of stuff,” Harding said. “And I think he’ll continue to get stronger and become more consistent in the run game in terms of physicality, but really that pass protection I think, that technique and that footwork I think is at a pretty high level for a kid that really only had two years of starting at the college level.”

What the pundits think

In his “The Beast” draft guide, NFL draft expert Dane Brugler said, “Lomu must get stronger and continue to develop his technique and grit, but NFL teams are understandably intrigued by his movement ability and ready-to-cultivate left tackle skillset. His upside points to him becoming an NFL starter.”

The vast majority of mock drafts have Lomu as a first-round pick taken in the latter half of the opening round. If that happens, and Fano is selected in the first round as expected, it would be only the third time in NFL draft history that two offensive tackles from the same school would be selected in the first round and the first time that Utah has had multiple first-round draft selections.

For two friends who met on a recruiting visit at Utah’s 43-42 win over USC at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2022, there would be nothing more fitting than making history together.

“I mean, that’s awesome. That doesn’t happen a lot where two bookend tackles get drafted in the first round,” Lomu said. “... It’s been awesome with Spencer, being able to learn from him and just learn off each other throughout these past couple years. It’s been awesome now that we’re in this position to both get drafted.”

There are two popular selections for Lomu in mocks drafts — No. 24 to the Cleveland Browns and No. 27 to the San Francisco 49ers, but Lomu has met with a number of teams ahead of the draft.

Wherever he ends up, Lomu is ready to work, and he credits playing at Utah for putting him in a great draft-day positon.

“I know Utah prepares players to be in the NFL. We have so many great players in the NFL right now and so I know all the teachings and the things I was taught here at Utah has prepared me for the NFL,” Lomu said,

“I’m just going in with the mindset of, I’m coming in as a rookie. I’m going to have to prove a lot of things to get a spot if I want to play right away or even just be part of the team. I want to prove myself to the team that I deserve to be in the NFL.

“And so just the mindset of having that confident mindset going in, knowing you belong there for a reason and just having fun, playing ball. At the end of the day, it’s just football. It’s the sport I’ve been playing ever since I was a little kid and it’s just the love for the game.”

Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu celebrates a big play during game against Southern Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. | Sophia Kuder, Utah Athletics