One of the most memorable plays of the 2017 Ohio State football season technically never happened.
In the third quarter of the Buckeyes’ season opener at Indiana, OSU linebacker Chris Worley grabbed Hoosier quarterback Richard Lagow as he tried to step up in the pocket. The ball came out.
OSU defensive tackle Robert Landers ran over, scooped it up, and started rumbling toward the end zone. By the time he crossed the goal line 35 yards later, he was dragging three Hoosiers along with him.
Replay ultimately ruled that it was an incomplete pass, not a fumble, and Landers’ touchdown was erased from the box score.
This season, Landers is hoping to make a more permanent impact on the Buckeyes’ season, both on and off the field.
With 2017 starter Tracy Sprinkle and backup Michael Hill now gone, Landers has the opportunity to win a starting job this fall, and he’s doing everything he can to make the most of that chance.
“Just going hard every day. Going hard every rep that I possibly get on the field in practice,” Landers said.
Listed at 283 lbs, and perhaps a little generously at 6-foot-1, Landers knows that his conditioning will be a big part of not only making an impact on Saturdays, but staying on the field throughout the year.
“I would say is the biggest thing is my conditioning, going plus-2,” he said. “When the ball is thrown, I’m probably not going to catch Parris Campbell 10 yards down the field, but I’m at least going to make the extra effort to get myself in shape to take a larger volume of reps this coming season.
Landers’ influence on this year’s Buckeye team will extend beyond the playing field. As one of the elder statesmen in the defensive tackle unit, he will serve a bigger role as both a leader and mentor for the younger players. Defensive line coach Larry Johnson thinks Landers, known inside the program as “BB”, is already right at home in that role.
“He’s doing well,” Johnson said. “They’re the guys leading the pack, and to lead the pack you’ve got to be good every day. That’s what they’re learning how to do, and the best way to lead is by example, and that’s what BB is doing right now.”
Landers said he’s been impressed with the younger players on the defensive line.
“The biggest thing I like about them is that they’re hungry. They’re eager to learn, they go hard, they’re learning in the meeting room with chalk talk. They’re learning on the field,” he said.
“They’re asking me extra questions, asking coach questions, having us come out here with them and get extra reps, show them different stuff. They’re really eager to play and learn as much as they can not only from Coach Johnson, but us as the old guys on the D-line.”
Landers is one of the more gregarious members of the Buckeye program, seemingly always smiling and happy to talk. That outgoing personality has helped his transition to his new leadership role.
“It’s not too much of a difference because I’ve naturally had the attributes to lead,” he said. “I’ve always had the type of mentality to contribute the best that I can, no matter what my role is. And I’ve never really so much gotten caught up in whether I started or did not start, whatever plays I got I tried to make them as productive as possible.”