Incoming freshman OT Landon Tengwall looks to make immediate impact for Penn State
Thinking back to his eighth-grade year, Landon Tengwall remembers eating everything he could get his hands on.
The incoming Penn State freshman offensive tackle’s day would start with a big breakfast — usually four or five eggs, a lot of peanut butter on slices of bread or bagels and a protein shake. Then, he’d lift weights before getting ready to go to school, which started at 9 a.m.
Eat. Lift. Rise and repeat. That was the rest of his day, everyday.
Already standing at 6-foot-5 in the fall of his eighth-grade year, he made adjustments to his diet and regimen before starting high school. By the time spring ball came around, Landon had gained 100 pounds — going from 175 to 275.
“I’ve been playing with this weight for four years now,” said Landon, now a 6-foot-6 and 300-pound five-star prospect and the best player in the Nittany Lions’ incoming class. “So, my body knows how to play with this weight. My body’s used to this weight.”
Landon, who is ranked as the No. 7 offensive tackle and the No. 50 overall player in the 2021 247Sports Composite, expects to come in and contribute right away as a freshman. He knows the jump from high school to collegiate football is certainly no small step. But he also knows he’s been ready for this moment for longer than most players his age.
Chris Tengwall, Landon’s father, remembers watching Landon play as a freshman at Maryland’s St. Vincent Pallotti High School and realizing his son was one of the best offensive linemen in the country.
“I’d look up the D-end that he’s going against, and the D-end’s a senior and the D-end’s committed to Delaware or committed to Maryland or committed Boston College or something like that,” Chris recalled. “And Landon is just running the kid all over the field.”
As his freshman season went on, Landon knew he wanted to play against tougher competition. So he transferred to Our Lady of Good Counsel High School — a private school just 17 miles away — for his sophomore year.
Good Counsel head coach Andy Stefanelli immediately knew he had a player he could build an offense around.
By the time Landon was a junior in 2019, he was a cornerstone piece for a team that won a title in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference — one of the most competitive high school football conferences in the nation.
“He was the leader of the offense, and that’s unusual to have your offensive tackle (be the leader),” Stefanelli said. “Usually, it’s a quarterback or maybe a star running back or receiver. But our left tackle, hands down, was the leader of that offense.”
Even as his list of scholarship offers grew — all the way to 27 schools before he chose Penn State in March 2020 — Landon never stopped trying to improve.
That’s one quality that Stefanelli respected most about him.
“Sometimes you get kids at that point, they get to be juniors and seniors, and they stop wanting to listen to their high school coaches,” Stefanelli said. “Everybody’s told them they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. … But not Landon — he took the coaching.”
Now, as he prepares for his first college semester as an early enrollee, Landon has lofty goals for this fall.
He hopes to come in and start right away, or at least get significant playing time and be a “sponge” as he learns from his veteran teammates. And he understands what that will take, too.
“You go from probably going against 16-, 17-year-olds, and the next thing you know, you got a senior that’s 22 across from you,” Landon said. “You’re 18, and 18 to 22, that’s a big jump. That’s barely being a man to being a grown man.”
Chris has no doubt that Landon will make an immediate impact, though. “I’ll be shocked if he isn’t starting,” he said.
Just as Landon was able to transform his body seemingly overnight as a 14-year-old, Chris believes his son is just scratching the surface of his potential.
“I mean, we’ll see,” Chris said, “but I have confidence that I’ll be watching him play on Sundays.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 8:00 AM.
