Southern University Lands makes grade on, off the field

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

Southern junior defensive end Vince Lands is late to practice, really late, every Tuesday and Thursday.

Nobody minds much.

The players and coaches know what a special student Lands is. He majors in microbiology and minors in chemistry, with an A average, and earned Southwestern Athletic Conference All-Academic honors last year.

They also realize what a special player he is. After getting out of class around 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Lands goes to practice, which has already been going on for about two hours.

“Once he gets there, he’s all football player,” SU coach Pete Richardson said.

The SWAC honored Lands as its defensive player of the week, with eight tackles and 2 1/2 sacks in a 12-2 win over Prairie View on Saturday. Richardson gave Lands his personal coach’s award as well. A week earlier, against Florida A&M, he was named the defensive MVP of the Chicago Football Classic.

Putting in the work is the underpinning for everything:

“After film, late at night, I’ll just run around the neighborhood or something,” Lands said of Tuesdays and Thursdays. “I’ll study in the late hours of the night, up to two in the morning,” Lands said of the everyday routine.

At 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, Lands’ game is all about quickness, strength and, of course, plenty of smarts. Lands did a team-best 30 straight bench presses of 275 pounds. For perspective, during the NFL’s combine, the players do the same type of test, only at 225, and 30 would be outstanding even for that lesser weight.

After struggling early last season with cramping late in games, Lands knew conditioning would be a priority this season. So, even while on an internship, the work had to get done.

“His conditioning before we got started is really paying dividends for him,” Richardson said.

Lands didn’t get that strong by toting textbooks, but that’s not far off. His biochemistry and microbial physiology books are companions on road trips — right next to the playbook.

“Even on the road, I bring my books with me, try to catch up with my studies there,” said Lands, who plans on a career as a geriatric internal physician.

Lands spent May and June at an internship at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He took the Medical College Admission Test during preseason camp.

The overachieving started as a two-way player at Glen Oaks High, where Lands was on Class 4A Academic All-State team in 2003 and on The Advocate’s All-Metro team in ’02. Plus, he was on the track team as a runner. (He’s helped the SU track team, as a thrower.)

At the same time, he was in a medical magnet program and worked Fridays, after games, at a nursing home.

Relentlessness pays off.

“He’s going to be successful — I don’t care what he does — because he’s going to put the time in and he expects results from it,” Richardson said.

Keeping up with Lands on the field or off is nearly impossible for mortals.