Cameron Latu came to Alabama to play linebacker. He switched to tight end “for the team.” Now he’s in the NFL after being drafted in the third round by the San Francisco 49ers on April 28.

In 2018, when Latu appeared in two games as a linebacker in a redshirt season, tight end Irv Smith Jr. caught 44 passes for 710 yards and seven touchdowns for an Alabama team that also had four future first-round draft picks available at wide receiver.

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Smith left the Crimson Tide in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

“When coach (Steve) Sarkisian came into the picture as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, he kind of questioned me to see if I wanted to play the position,” Latu said, “and then coach (Nick) Saban also asked me the same question because we kind of needed bodies at tight end, and I kind of played the position in high school and fit the position, he thought. I made the switch for the team, and it ended up being a great fit for myself, and I started developing in that position daily.”

The 49ers used their third choice in the 2023 draft on Latu even though they have tight end George Kittle, who was a Pro Bowler three times and first-team All-Pro once in the past four seasons, and San Francisco doesn’t use a high percentage of sets with two tight ends.

“It was so nice going into the draft this year that we didn’t feel like we had to find a starter at any position except kicker,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Everything else we feel we can win with our guys. But we’re going to do our best at every pick we have to, first of all, find someone who can make the team and then someone who can compete to make the guys we have better or to beat out the guys that we have.”

San Francisco general manager John Lynch said the 49ers liked Latu’s linebacker mentality coupled with his skill set as a tight end.

“I think he’s a versatile player in that’s he’s good in both the run and the pass,” Lynch said. “But he went to Bama as a linebacker, and I think he plays like that. He’s an aggressive player. He’s a competitive player.

“When you’re watching film with him, he’s a guy as soon as the next play — his recall is really good — and he’s ‘No, coach, this is not a good one.’ He kind of grew on you from that standpoint. I know Kyle got to talk to Sark at Texas who coached him right when he was transitioning over to the tight end position. Got some information. But we like the skill set. We like the mentality.”

In his transition to tight end, Latu didn’t have any receptions in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. In 2021, Latu had 26 receptions for 410 yards and broke Smith’s Alabama single-season record for tight end touchdowns with eight. After an injury delayed the start of his 2022 season by a game, Latu had 30 receptions for 377 yards and four touchdowns.

“I think that’s one of the things that we liked about him the most that he looked like a good player, but also how much better he got throughout the year and how much more we think is in his body,” Shanahan said. “And then you look at his history and know he came in playing linebacker the first two years, I think, and switched over, so he’s late to the position. As you watch him throughout the year, we think he can get a lot better in the run game and the pass game. Usually you designate a guy one or the other – he’s a run blocker or a pass-game guy – and we see this guy as both. And he can accelerate in both.”

Kittle had 60 receptions for 765 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022, when he played 90 percent of the 49ers’ offensive snaps. While Kittle played 859 snaps, his backups combined to play 540 and catch seven passes for 162 yards and one touchdown.

“Kittle just hit up my phone right now, as you said that,” Latu said on the night he was drafted while conducting an interview for the 49ers’ website. “He said, ‘Congratulations. Now let’s get to work.’ I’m excited to learn from one of the best tight ends in the game and just go in there and compete and give it my best every day, so it’s a great squad in there. (Tight-ends) coach (Brian) Fleury’s a great coach, and I’m excited to get under him.”

Of the San Francisco tight ends in 2022, Kittle, Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley return while Tyler Kroft left in free agency for the Miami Dolphins.

“I try to model my game after George,” Latu said. “I watched him these last three years with my tight-ends coach, and I just try to take tools that he’s been using in the run game and passing game and just apply it to my game, so to team up with him and be on the same team is a blessing, just to be able to learn under him.”

Latu gets to work for the 49ers on Friday, when San Francisco opens its rookie minicamp.

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