During his first NFL training camp, San Francisco 49ers tight end Cameron Latu has figured out that either he needs to speed up or the pro game needs to slow down.

“I’ll say the playbook, definitely I’m getting a good grasp of it,” Latu said. “The game’s slowing down. I’m obviously just thinking way too much every play. I got to slow it down a little more for me. Just understand what I got to do on every play and just do it at a high speed. That’s my thing: I’m too slow right now, and I’ve just got to get faster with this game. …

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“I’m just trying to do a lot of different stuff that I’m just getting thrown at me, and I’m just trying to be perfect. But it’s one day at a time. We’re going to work through it and just get better every day.”

After catching 56 passes for 787 yards and 12 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Alabama, the converted linebacker joined San Francisco in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on April 29.

After adding Latu, the 49ers drafted Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis in the seventh round.

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said his offensive scheme demands a lot from tight ends.

“We ask our tight ends probably to do more than any other position because of how involved they are in the run game and the pass game,” Shanahan said. “And those guys are getting thrown in it big.”

Latu said he could become bedeviled by the details.

“Just the smallest of the details of every play – my stance, start, what I got to do, how fast I got to do it and how I got to do it,” Latu said. “Just different stuff, but at the end of the day, I just got to slow it down for myself, study every night and just do what the team’s asked me to do.”

Latu didn’t think he would master the San Francisco offense overnight. But now that he’s thinking like a tight end and not a linebacker and getting help in the 49ers’ deep tight-ends room, he’s making progress.

“I was at Alabama for five years,” Latu said. “I’ve been here for less than five months.

“It’s coming faster for me now that I understand the game of football as a tight end, and then getting coached by a guy like (tight-ends) coach (Brian) Fleury, a very good coach. I got guys around me like George Kittle, Ross Dwelley, Charlie Woerner, Troy (Fumagalli), guys that are just vets that can help me along the way understand the game and then how to play in different scenarios that they’ve been in on every play.”

Latu is in line to make his pro debut on Sunday, when the 49ers kick off their three-game preseason schedule against the Las Vegas Raiders at 3 p.m. CDT at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The final game of the NFL’s first full week of the 2023 preseason will be televised by NFL Network.

“Just one day at a time,” Latu said. “Just keep watching film, keep getting coaching points and just do it. I know what to do. I just got to do it at this point.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.