J.C. Latham’s first pro game on Saturday might have been a reunion with mentor Trent Williams, but the 11-time Pro Bowl left tackle is holding out for a better contract with the San Francisco 49ers.

Latham played right tackle for Alabama in 2022 and 2023. But when Tennessee used the seventh selection of the NFL Draft on April 25 on Latham, it was to make him the Titans’ left tackle, where he’s listed as the starter on the team’s first depth chart of 2024.

In preparation for that assignment, Latham spent an eye-opening week this summer with Williams, the “best lineman in the game.”

“Things I really took away was how open he was about his mistakes,” Latham said on Sunday. “I’m not going to say if you’re the best you should be arrogant. But just his kind of awareness on what he needed to do better. We watched film against (Cleveland Browns defensive end) Myles Garrett. And it was a couple of us down there, and he was just letting them know, like, ‘People know I’m pretty good, but most people aren’t going to tell me what I need to do better. It might not even come down to the coaches also because they got so much that they got to do, so you got to kind of coach yourself.’ So watching him going against Myles, he’s correcting himself on every little thing that he did. And that’s the peak of the game, and if you’re at the peak of the game, you’re always trying to find ways to be better, so that was just a surreal moment just in the film room.

“And then just working out, training, seeing how hard he was getting after it. One of the exercises was, like, it was a super set with pull-ups. It was four sets of 10. And in my head, I’m in a way, like, I’m 350. He’s probably like 340, 335, whatever it is. Ain’t no way, he’s doing 10 pull-ups, four sets. And I’m talking he just got up there and just got after it. And I’m just like that’s a freak of nature right there. So just seeing his training, his level of intensity that he brings, willing to go the distance on anything no matter what.”

During the Titans’ worst season since 2015, Tennessee quarterbacks got sacked 64 times in 2023. The Titans are pairing Latham with Peter Skoronski, the No. 11 pick in the 2023 draft, on the left side of their offensive line in hopes of better protecting QB Will Levis, the No. 33 pick in 2023, during the 2024 season.

“I think right now he’s working on all the nuances and all the detail of the spot,” Tennessee offensive-line coach Bill Callahan said last week. “There’re some things that always come up for rookies that are a little bit different that they haven’t experienced, so we’re trying to give him as much exposure as we can and try to accelerate his progress. But he’s doing well. It’s taxing mentally to absorb the content of all the installations and all the protections and techniques that go hand-in-hand, but by and large he’s done a pretty decent job.”

Latham said he’s working on “seeing the whole field.”

“It’s a lot more intangibles than college,” Latham said. “You got to focus in on the cadence. You know, there’s so many different cadences. You got to pay attention to the defense. Every play has a set rule of things that are whatever depending on what the defense is in, so you’ve got to understand every single play down to the very minute detail. And then your get-off and technique that goes along with it, so just being able to see everything all at once and put it all together.”

Latham said his agility also has been a continuing focus since joining Tennessee.

“My main thing was really just getting a lot lighter on my feet,” Latham said. “You know, I’m a big dude. I’m 350, so a lot of people say when you’re this big, you can’t really move. And I kind of wanted to just kind of change that narrative about myself. At no point do I feel like I’m good enough to where I can just stop trying to master my craft, so every day I try to make sure I’m doing it — hitting some type of ladders and explosive movements to make sure my feet’s always matching up with my strength.”

The Titans will kick off their three-game preseason schedule against the 49ers at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

“It’s a dream come true,” Latham said. “But you try to take it day by day. We got meetings tonight, walk-throughs tonight, all that stuff, so I’m really just trying to be where your feet are and staying locked in to what’s going on right now.”

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