Darius Latham (born November 9, 1994) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

who played for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

for two seasons from 2016–2017. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

Early life

Latham was born to Cori Latham and David Turner on November 9, 1994. Graduating from North Central High School in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Latham lettered all four years in both

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and football. During his high school football career, Latham received several accolades for his on the field achievements, including rated the Indiana Football Coaches Association Top 50 player and all-state as a junior and senior, Indiana Associated Press Class 5A All-State as a senior and honorable mention as a junior, selected to the 2012 Indianapolis Star Super Team, runner-up for the Indianapolis Star Position Award (defensive line), nominated for the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl and two-time first-team all-conference and All- Marion County selection. Latham would make 62 tackles with eight sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in 2012 and was voted team captain as a senior and the defensive lineman of the year his final two seasons. Latham was rated the Number 3 prospect in Indiana and the Number 160 prospect nationally by 247Sports, while achieving the rating of Number 14 defensive tackle nationally and the Number 239 prospect overall by Rivals.com.

College career

Latham received offer letters from 17

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

schools, including

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, Notre Dame and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. On February 6, 2013, Latham signed his

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play football for

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Freshman

Latham would start all 12 games as a freshman for the Hoosiers. He recorded his first sack of his collegiate career against

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

on August 29, 2013. Latham would finish the season making 22 tackles with two sacks (14 yards), three tackles for loss (16 yards), one fumble recovery and three pass breakups. Following the conclusion of the 2013 season, Latham would receive honorable mention for the All-Big Ten Freshman team from BTN.com.

Sophomore

Latham would start in 10 of 12 games his sophomore year. He would finish the season making 26 tackles with 1.5 sacks (6 yards), 5.5 tackles for loss (15 yards), one fumble recovery and three pass breakups. Against

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, Latham would post a career-high six stops.

Junior

During Latham's final year at Indiana, he played in 11 of 12 games. He would finish the 2015 season second on the team with four sacks (22 yards) and third on the team with 10 tackles for loss (35 yards). Additionally, he would record a total of 33 tackles, 16 solo, one interception, one pass breakup and two blocked kicks. Latham would finish the 2015 season receiving Honorable mention for the All-Big Ten team (coaches). On December 30, 2015, Latham declared his intention to enter the

NFL draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

Professional career

Latham was predicted to be the second-best defensive tackle in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by Mel Kiper. Latham was not drafted in the 2016 NFL Draft; however, on April 30, 2016, he reached a deal with the

and was signed as an undrafted free agent. Latham signed a three-year contract, worth $1.62 million. On October 9, 2017, Latham was suspended four games for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. On December 4, 2017, he was waived by the Raiders and re-signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on December 13, 2017. On April 26, 2018, Latham was waived by the Raiders. Latham signed with the

Arizona Hotshots The Arizona Hotshots were a professional American football franchise based in Tempe, Arizona, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played their ...

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...

(AAF) for the 2019 season, but was waived during final roster cuts on January 30, 2019.

References

External links

Oakland Raiders bio

Indiana Hoosiers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Latham, Darius 1994 births Living people American football defensive tackles Indiana Hoosiers football players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from Indianapolis Arizona Hotshots players