Greg Latta takes the long way to big time college football - The Desert Sun

Sitting in his bedroom in La Quinta last October, Greg Latta took a deep breath when his cell phone buzzed.

An Indiana area code flashed up on his caller ID. It was the important call the sophomore defensive end at College of the Desert and Palm Desert High School graduate was told to expect.

Latta exhaled and answered. A member of Purdue's coaching staff was calling to offer him a scholarship, which he verbally accepted.

The enormity of that moment didn't strike Latta until he made his official visit to the school in early December, more than two weeks before officially signing his letter of intent.

“I felt like, ‘Oh, maybe this is kind of serious,'” he said with a laugh.

Latta had reason to believe everything that had happened so quickly was surreal.

Dedicated to basketball in high school, he had never played football until suiting up for COD as a freshman tight end in 2010. Switching to defensive end last season, he had been worried in August that he might not receive any offers. But he is now a Boilermaker thanks to his tireless work ethic, his athletic 6-foot-6, 265-pound frame and good fortune.

Football always had appealed to Latta when he was younger, but he never had a chance to play. Basketball took up all of his time. He played at La Quinta High School for three years before transferring to Palm Desert for his senior year.

When he wasn't competing with his high school team, he was traveling to Orange County to play with an AAU squad at the Branch West Basketball Academy. His teammates were talented. He took the floor with current Minnesota sophomore point guard Maverick Ahanmisi on a summer team in 2009.

Latta aspired to play basketball in college, but his hopes dwindled as graduation approached in June 2010. Some smaller schools, including several Division I programs, offered him partial scholarships, but the financial aid wasn't ample enough. After weighing his options, he chose to enroll at COD and put on pads.

Mike Butler, the co-owner of Kinetix Sports Performance, was one of the first people Latta told about his decision. As Latta's trainer since he was a freshman, Butler watched the teenager devote himself to rigorous weightlifting and taxing speed and agility drills.

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“At the end, he'd be stretching, and he had the frizzy hair at the time,” Butler said. “I'd swear I'd have to go up and clean the floor afterwards because he'd just be in dripping in sweat everywhere. The kid always worked out so hard.”

Butler wasn't surprised when Latta told him he wanted to play football. He had always trained Latta more like a football player than a basketball player because of his size.

With a body built for football, Latta soaked up the sport's nuances as he started to practice with COD. He had to learn about all the little things, even how to wear his uniform. His first helmet was too tight; the second was too loose. His pants didn't fit quite right during his freshman season.

“Last year, I wore, I think, a size bigger than I did this year because they were kind of loose last year,” he said. “I always had to fix my pads and readjust them because they were moving around all the time.”

Coaches pegged Latta as a tight end. It was the most logical transition from basketball. The unassuming newcomer didn't make it known to many of his teammates that he had never played the sport. They were surprised when they found out.

“A lot of them didn't believe it because I guess I'm a quick learner,” Latta said.

With nothing to lose, he was eager to try out something new at the end of spring practice last year. He asked the coaches if he could take a shot at defensive end.

The switch paid off. While splitting time at tight end as the season began last fall, he made enough plays on defense that he was able to pounce when a promising phone call came.

On a weekday morning in October, Latta was working out in the COD weight room when he heard Demond Littles, the team's recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach, talking about him on the phone. Littles had answered a call from Josh Dye, a graduate assistant at Purdue.

Dye was one of Littles' many contacts scattered across the country. In 2010, when Dye was working at Ball State, he called looking for tight ends. Littles mentioned Latta, but Dye watched film and felt the freshman needed more time to develop.

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Now at Purdue, Dye called Littles to address the Boilermakers' glaring need â€" defensive end. Littles once again recommended Latta.

“He has the raw ability. Greg is a worker,” Littles said. “That's the thing that attracted me to him.”

Latta also impressed Purdue. Dye passed the defensive end's highlight reel up the Boilermakers' coaching chain, and along with Latta's good grades, his 4.59 40-yard dash time and his 34-inch vertical, it didn't take long for the school to offer him a scholarship.

“Greg made it easy,” Littles said. “Everything fit.”

It's been a whirlwind ever since. Head coach Danny Hope flew out to the desert to meet him. In December, Latta made his official visit to Purdue and marveled at the team's facilities.

“I'm used to COD. We barely have bleachers,” said Latta, who also relished the chance to shoot off aerial fireworks, which are illegal in the desert, with his host, fellow defensive end Robert Maci.

He is now free to buy as many fireworks as he pleases. Latta arrived at Purdue on Thursday, and classes begin Monday. He plans to major in kinesiology, much to the delight of Butler.

Latta will try to put his lessons to use on the practice field this spring. He will have a chance to contribute immediately. Only four other defensive ends are on the roster, with two incoming high school recruits slated to join the team in the summer, according to Rivals.com.

It's a remarkable opportunity that even caught Latta off guard when he answered the phone in his bedroom in October.

“It was kind of surreal,” he said. “I was just like, ‘Wow, I didn't think I'd make it that big.'”