In the months leading up to the 2020 NFL draft, former Ohio State defensive tackle Robert “BB” Landers is joining us at Eleven Warriors to document his quest to become a professional football player.
As Landers goes through the NFL draft process in hopes of getting the call to the next level in late April, we’ll be catching up with him on a biweekly basis for the latest updates, in his own words, on his experiences along the way.
The first installment of Robert Landers’ Journey to the NFL begins with his reflections on spending the past five years at Ohio State and how that set him up for the opportunity to chase a professional football career.
"My journey’s been special. It’s been a blessing. I’m in a position right now where growing up, every kid who’s ever played football or put on a helmet has always wanted to play in the NFL, you know what I mean? And for me, I’ve been able to be blessed enough to live out my dreams week after week.
"Just going through high school, my dream school has always been Ohio State. I was born and raised a Buckeye. So when that opportunity presented itself for me to get to Ohio State, and be able to put on that scarlet and gray and etch my name in stone in the history books of being a Buckeye, was special. And as I went through my journey at Ohio State, I grew and developed in so many more ways on and off the field than what I thought.
"I tried to take advantage of the blessing that I got, just because I’m a spiritual person. And I believe God, when he gives you a blessing, you got to take advantage of it. Not abuse it, but take advantage of it. And I’ve tried to use the platform and use my blessing to my best ability to not only put myself in the best possible position for my future, but impact any other person that I come across throughout my time at Ohio State, and I’ve been able to do so.
"So I’ve had an abundant amount of blessings, and now God has blessed me once again, the next chapter of my life, to be able to pursue another childhood dream of potentially playing in the NFL. So right now, I count my blessings, I count my days, I take it 24 hours at a time. Sometimes you’re not guaranteed the 24, but if God give it to you, you got to take it."
Robert Landers played in 52 games for Ohio State over the past two years.
Landers is currently training for the NFL draft at Grossetti Performance in New Castle, Pennsylvania, alongside former Ohio State teammate Rashod Berry and numerous other draft hopefuls, under the guidance of Terry Grossetti, who is also the head strength and conditioning coach at Youngstown State.
There, he’s been training with the goal of being as prepared as possible for Ohio State’s March 25 pro day. Knowing that he’s already been coached up well on defensive line technique by Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson, his primary focus has been on preparing for the measurable tests he’ll participate in at pro day, including the bench press, 40-yard dash and 20-yard shuttle.
"Coach J is the best of the best. So I know when it comes down to drills, right now my biggest thing is just kinda keeping what I’m good at polished. And enhancing maybe some of my deficiencies that teams might feel like that I have. So I feel like it’s just being able to display my God-given athletic ability as far as my tests.
"I’m just trying to take it day-by-day. Trying to absorb any information that I can get, any little tricks that I can get as far as enhancing my final stats for my different tests, and then go from there.
"I’m training in New Castle, but where I’m staying is in Grove City (Pa.) There’s nothing around there, I can’t get into no trouble, it’s football and football only, so I’m enjoying it. The guy I’m training with, his name is Terry Grossetti, he is phenomenal.
"We’ve got a couple guys from West Virginia, a guy from Bowling Green; we’ve got a guy from Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech. You got guys from all over. And I really enjoy that too, because one thing about being at Ohio State, you get guys from different states. So you can see just how different personalities, different characteristics of different guys kind of brings value to the team. It’s the same aspect now. You got guys from different universities who are also from different states that may be different from their universities, so they bring value to our training. We push each other, we have fun and it’s just another aspect of me building more relationships with new guys that just don’t wear the scarlet and gray.
"So I’m enjoying it, and I’m blessed enough to have Rashod up there, so I got somebody to sit up and talk about Coach Mick with, and how his workouts were completely different than what we’re doing now. So it’s fun."
“I’ve had an abundant amount of blessings, and now God has blessed me once again, the next chapter of my life, to be able to pursue another childhood dream of potentially playing in the NFL.”
Although he didn’t always appreciate it when he was younger, Landers is grateful now that he spent the past five years enduring workouts led by Ohio State director of sports performance Mickey Marotti. In comparison, the jump to the next level hasn’t seemed quite as hard.
"I’m just going to say this is: Coach Mick is different. Coach Mick, he is in his own league. Mickey Marotti is a different caliber. But now that I’m older and I’m going through this process, and even going through my development at Ohio State, I learned to appreciate and value Coach Mick a lot more as age and wisdom kind of set in there.
"At a young age, it’s like, ‘Man, why is he always so pissed off? He needs a hug or something. What is going on? Why are these workouts so hard?’ But now that I’m training for the next level and I’m just kind of going through some of our tougher workouts where I’m at now, it’s just like, ‘Man, it’s hard, but this ain’t that bad. If we was at Ohio State right now, they got three mat drills in one week.’ So I’m going to take it with a grain of sugar instead of a grain of salt.
"But I can say mentally and physically, Coach Mick definitely developed me, and Rashod could probably attest to this, developed him as well to be able to handle these moments and these workouts to push our bodies about four or five more steps than what we thought we could. So it’s a blessing."
Looking ahead to next month’s pro day, Landers is particularly focused on performing well in the 225-pound bench press, not only to impress NFL scouts but also to raise money for charity. Through the website PledgeIt, Landers is taking pledges for “BB’s Big Lift.” There, donors can pledge to donate money to Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s On Our Sleeves campaign – which promotes mental health awareness and supports children and families battling mental illness – for every time raises Landers raises the bar at pro day.
"My goal right now, I’ll get more than 30 (reps of 225 in the bench press). My personal goal, to push myself, is 40. So that process of my growth right now might be the hardest part. Because once you hit a certain point with that 225, man, it’s just like ‘Oh, my lord.’ So I’m working on that to strive and kind of push myself in that aspect as well."
For Landers, who has battled anxiety and depression since his father was killed when he was 10 years old, the decision to support the On Our Sleeves campaign – which Ryan Day and his wife also support through their fund for pediatric and adolescent mental wellness at Nationwide Children’s Hospital – is personal, and he wants to share his experiences with others who might be facing mental health issues of their own.
"My battle started at a very young age. And that’s the one thing with dealing with mental health is it’s not so much just one fight and it’s done and over with. It’s a roller-coaster, it’s up-and-down, it’s in and out, it’s some days are better than others, constantly. And my biggest thing was just, when I first started talking about it was just to kind of tell people they’re not the only ones going through it. It’s kids that come from rougher backgrounds that aspire to be at the point that I’m at in their lives as far as playing for their dream school, playing football at the next level, having an opportunity to play in the NFL.
"At times, when you’re fighting that battle, you second-guess yourself, you second-guess your ability, you tend to overlook some blessings that you might get, especially if you gotta do it alone. So my biggest thing was just coming out and just telling people that I am who I am, I play football at one of the top schools in the country, I have the opportunity to play at the next level and I struggle with this aspect within my life and I’ve been struggling with it for a long time. So it’s kinda letting people know, you’re not alone and you don’t have to fight it by yourself."
Stay tuned with Eleven Warriors for more updates from Landers' Journey to the NFL over the next two months.
