“He’s a little short,” they say.
“You might want to go back to the sideline, little dude,” they tell him.
Landers doesn’t talk back. He just smiles and thinks, “I gotcha. We’ll see how this goes.”
At 6-foot-1, Landers is two inches shorter than any other defensive linemen on the depth chart. At 285 pounds, though, he’s bigger than everyone except Michael Hill (6-3, 305) and Davon Hamilton (6-4, 297).
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Ohio State’s defensive line is one of its strengths, and it will face one of its toughest opponents in the national semifinals against No. 2 Clemson at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Clemson (12-1) ranked 15th in the country in scoring offense (40.2 points per game) and seventh in passing offense (332.6). No. 3 Ohio State (11-1) ranked third in scoring defense (14.2), sixth in pass defense (164.5) and 14th in rush defense (117.8).
“It’s probably going to be one of our biggest challenges,” Landers said. “Their team, all the way across the board, is solid, but they’re O-line is really solid. They’re big. They’re athletic. They’re fundamentally sound. They have a Heisman candidate quarterback (Deshaun Watson). They have a top-notch running back (Wayne Gallman). It’s going to be a good game.”
A year ago at this time, Landers started to take his first steps toward earning playing time this season. The practice time in December gives young players a chance to take extra snaps.
“It’s really a good time to come out and set yourself up going into the next season,” Landers said. “There is so much downtime. They allow the young guys to get a lot of work. At that point in time, that’s when I really bought into the fact that this is my role. I’m going to play my role. I’m going to try to take my skill set to the next level.”
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Landers played in all 12 games in the regular season and recorded 16 tackles. On a deep defensive line, there was room for everyone to play in the rotation.
“One thing about our room, especially with coach (Larry Johnson), is we’re all brothers,” Landers said. “We all want to see each other do good. You’ll never see any egos. You’ll never see somebody get mad because they’re coming out and somebody else is coming in. Whether they made a big play or not, at the end of the day it’s about the team winning. We all know our role. We all know our job. We play our roles to our best ability.”
NEXT GAME
Ohio State vs. Clemson, 7 p.m., Dec. 31, ESPN, 1410
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