"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.