The rumblings began that Utah football had a special talent developing at offensive tackle during the 2023 season.
At that time, Patriots first-round pick Caleb Lomu was a redshirt freshman working on the scout team. He had enrolled at Utah in June of 2023 and needed an extra training cycle to add mass to his frame and get stronger. The decision was made to redshirt Lomu, who then manned the blindside on the scout team during fall practices. While continuing to develop his body, chatter around the practice facility was getting louder; it wouldn't be long before Lomu cracked the starting lineup for the Utes.
Although he was a bit undersized when he arrived on campus, Lomu's athleticism, which is the carrying trait that got him drafted in the first round, was apparent to everyone who watched him as a high school recruit and in his early days at Utah. Speaking to Patriots.com, former Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding mapped out the path that led Lomu from a 265-pound high school senior to first-round draft pick.
"The first time I saw him was his junior season [in high school]. Really athletic kid who could bend. He was about 260 pounds coming out of high school, but really, really athletic," Harding said. "I remember standing with a couple of college coaches and the joint belief was that this kid could be a special player. It was evident and he was heavily recruited. Thankfully, he chose Utah and the rest is history."
At the end of the 2023 season, Utah's right tackle opted out of their bowl game. Spencer Fano, who would go on to be the ninth overall pick by the Browns in the 2026 NFL Draft, volunteered to play on the right side, where he had played in high school. For the Utah coaching staff, it was an opportunity to plan for the future.
"I was getting a lot of encouraging reports from our defensive coaches about how Caleb was progressing down on the other end [of the practice field]. I just had in the back of my mind, well, shoot, if those reports are true, Spencer [Fano] might end up just staying at right tackle and Caleb could potentially stay at left tackle," said Harding.
With the Patriots trading up to select Lomu with the 28th overall pick in the 2026 draft, the first question on most people's minds is where will Lomu play on the offensive line? The Patriots just used the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on starting LT Will Campbell, who had a solid first 14 games in his rookie season before having some ups and downs following a knee injury that knocked him out for four games late in the season. On the other side, 35-year-old Morgan Moses is nearing the end of his career, making future starting right tackle a long-term need.
Although it's easy to draw the line between Moses's age and the Lomu selection, nearly 98 percent of the 21-year-old's snaps at Utah came at left tackle. The Gilbert, Ariz., native played only 32 total snaps at right tackle over three seasons in Salt Lake City, but Harding explained that it had nothing to do with Lomu's ability to play on the right side.
"Both kids can play both [left and right tackle]. I believe in cross-training the kids. Having some exposure to other positions can only make them more marketable, so he played right and left in practice. Caleb, having just played left tackle in games here, there will be a little bit of a learning curve. He's going to have to brush up on his technique if they end up moving him to the right side. But I have zero doubt whatsoever that he'll put in the time and be able to transition wherever New England needs him to go," Harding said.
During the pre-draft process, there was scuttlebutt that Utah put Lomu on the left side because he didn't feel comfortable playing right tackle. There were also reports that the coaching staff at Utah felt Lomu was a better player than Fano, so they put him on the blindside. According to Harding, it was just the ideal way to get their best five on the field.
"I spent more time than I normally do looking at the reports and there was no belief that Caleb couldn't play on the right side. There was no belief that Caleb was necessarily better than Spencer. It was literally just the best lineup that gave us a chance to be the most successful," Harding said. "It's a testament to both those kids that they wanted to do what was best for the team, and in my opinion, that was the best lineup. Both those kids are gonna do incredibly well and it was nothing like, 'Oh, well, this kid can't do something,' it was none of that."
After explaining how Utah settled on its offensive line configuration, Harding shared more insight into the type of player and person the Patriots are getting in their first-round pick. According to Utah's former line coach, Lomu's study habits are second to none as a student of the game.
"The kid is a tremendous human being, great family. Humble, doesn't have an ego, so I think he's going to acclimate very well. I had a belief that he could be a high-level player the year after he redshirted. In the spring of 2024, we sat down, and I said, 'Okay, here are the things I think we need to address for you to be a high-level player and the starting left tackle at Utah.' Every step along the way, he met everything I asked of him," Harding said.
Along with continuing to develop his body to play at 307 pounds, Lomu took to the film room to work on his craft. Harding would create cutups for him to study the greats in the NFL, such as Trent Williams and Tristan Wirfs, as well as improve his own game. The two would also study opponents so Lomu could anticipate what opposing defenses might do schematically once the ball was snapped.
"We went through every single pass pro rep, just him and me from the 2024 season. We laid out all the inside moves, all the power moves, and all the outside moves. We grinded through them and really homed in on going into the 2025 season with, here's some things that gave us problems. A lot of college kids aren't willing to put in the extra time," Harding said. "Any time I asked him to meet, he would meet, and then a lot of the time he would initiate. This kid, in my opinion, is going to do everything he can to be successful.
"He has a very high football IQ, where very rarely will this kid make the same mistake twice. Those tackles are trained to be able to read safety rotation. I call them keys to the castle. To be able to read indicators on the defense that help them anticipate what's going to happen from a defensive perspective and that's something I haven't seen a lot of people write about," Harding continued.
Utah also underwent a coordinator change from the 2024 to 2025 season, with Lomu starting in a zone-heavy blocking system and then transitioning into a gap-oriented scheme in his final year at Utah. Therefore, Harding believes Lomu is well prepared to handle a multiple run scheme like the one he'll now be developing in with the Patriots under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
"In 2024, it was a different offensive coordinator. We were much more zone-oriented. In 2025, Caleb would be well-versed in counter, power, duo – gap schemes. Then, under the previous coordinator, he had exposure to really the two kinds of run game philosophies, the zone and gap scheme. There was the element of the RPO as well, but in terms of the scheme itself, he's fortunate enough to have some exposure to both."
Although his former line coach is bullish on his talent, Harding acknowledged one area where Lomu could improve after debunking the narrative that the Pats first-rounder wasn't suited for right tackle. Draft pundits have pointed out that Lomu needs to play with more grit to be a nastier finisher in the run game, and his former O-Line coach agreed that it's the one area of Lomu's game that needs some work.
"In my opinion, that's the one thing that he could be better at, truthfully. He could be more dominant, be more of a prick, but I would also say this kid is incredibly intelligent. He knows where he needs to be for the play to be successful," Harding said. "So, could he turn it up a notch? Absolutely. If there was one thing that I think he could be better at, that would be it. But all of the other positives: his pass protection, athleticism, his ability to redirect, the character factor, and work ethic far outweigh that one negative."
With the Patriots selecting offensive tackles in the first round of back-to-back drafts, New England is on its way to building inside-out around star QB Drake Maye. It is often said that football games are won and lost in the trenches, and the Patriots are taking the necessary steps to protect their franchise quarterback by drafting Campbell and Lomu in consecutive drafts.
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