Saturday, September 15, 2007

SU Jaguars take advantage of Landry’s size and strength


By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

Prairie View at Southern
WHEN: 6 p.m. today.
WHERE: A.W. Mumford Stadium (25,500).
TV: Tape-delay (4 p.m. Sunday, CST).
RADIO: KQXL-FM, 106.5.
RECORDS: Southern 2-0 (1-0 SWAC), Prairie View 2-0 (1-0 SWAC).
LAST MEETING: Prairie View 26, Southern 23, OT.
SERIES: SU leads, 48-19-2.

What does it feel like to be 6-foot-2 and 223 pounds and simply run through players, just mashing defensive backs?

“Like I say, I’m in the weight room, so I’m not even feeling the licks happen,” Southern senior wide receiver Gerard Landry said.

Landry certainly knows.

Two weeks ago, on a 46-yard touchdown against Florida A&M, Landry ran through two sets of two guys. One guy got the treatment twice. That defensive back bounced off the initial hit and tried to chase Landry down and team with another defensive back before the end zone, only to have Landry crash through.

“It’s not normal,” quarterback Bryant Lee said. “I really didn’t see it until I got in the film room, and I was amazed by it. I didn’t think he did all that to score the touchdown.”

A week ago, Landry shoved away Mississippi Valley State’s Jean-Pierre Marshall, one of the better cornerbacks in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, en route to a 54-yard touchdown.

“It just happens in the heat of the moment,” Landry said. “When I catch the rock, I’m trying to make something happen. If somebody’s in my path, I just do what I can to shake them off. The running over part, it just happens.”

As SU (2-0, 1-0 SWAC) hosts Prairie View (2-0, 1-0) at 6 p.m. today in A.W. Mumford Stadium, Landry, with 1,604 yards and 13 TDs, is sixth on the program’s all-time receiving ledger (having passed former Philadelphia Eagles great Harold Carmichael at 1,601). He needs 370 yards to move past Calvin Magee (at 1,973), the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at West Virginia and a former SU All-American, into second place behind Michael Hayes (3,056 yards and 30 TDs).

Landry has caught a pass in 27 consecutive games. He was a second-team All-SWAC selection last season (727 yards and five TDs on 55 catches).

“He’s a big athlete,” SU head coach Pete Richardson said. “A lot of defensive backs don’t want to see him coming. If they try to arm-tackle him, he’s going to go through that.”

Here’s where things get really bad for defensive backs.

Southern coaches emphasized downfield blocking from receivers as part of the improvements from the season opener to the second game.

So Landry, one of two team captains, took one guy into the bench area after a pass to Del Roberts. Another had to plea for mercy — “Man, lay off,” SU offensive coordinator Mark Orlando relayed.

“He responded to coaching,” Orlando said. “Gerard is a kid who wants to get to the next level. He knows scouts will be looking at tape to see if he’s loafing on the blocks.”

To provide positive reinforcement after SU totaled 293 rushing yards (the most in one game since September 2003), coaches wanted to reward the blocks. So SU baseball coach Roger Cador donated a bat for what will be the “Big Hit” award. Landry was to get the first one Friday night.

“I felt like I left something out there (against FAMU). I didn’t block as well as I could’ve blocked,” Landry said. “I remembered coach Orlando talking about a pancake award. So I started going out there trying to kill all the little DBs. Every time I went to the sideline (a week ago), I told coach to give me that pancake award.”

Here’s where things get even worse for defensive backs.

Landry wasn’t even 100 percent for the first two games and rated himself as only 85 percent earlier in the week. Despite getting himself in tremendous condition (and cutting his weight from 240 pounds in the spring), he missed two weeks of preseason camp after having oral surgery. He had one full practice day, a Tuesday, before the season opener (because he has class and misses most Wednesday practices and the team traveled Thursday).

“It really hurt me,” Landry said of the time off. “I was just in my prime. I could feel myself getting better and better every day as camp was going. Now, I’m working my way back into shape and feeling more comfortable.”

Even so, Landry still leads SU with 10 catches for 139 yards and the two TDs this season.

“He’s coming out just as I expected him to play,” wide receivers coach Eric Dooley said. “He worked hard over the summer on strength and conditioning as well as speed and he’s just ready to take over.”

The comparisons to Hayes (1999-2002), the school’s top receiver, are there because they are so similar physically and similarly physical.

Hayes was a little leaner, a tad taller and slightly faster. And what he excelled at was in going up to win jumpballs on fade routes. Don’t sleep on Landry’s speed, though. He’s run away from defensive backs in the past and is faster now after improving his speed in the offseason.

Said Richardson, “Both of them could go and body up on a guy. If you throw it up there, they could jump and catch the football.”

Said Orlando, “Mike could out-physical, do some things against defensive backs similar to what Gerard does. Gerard is a more physical receiver. I don’t remember guys bouncing off Hayes like they do (so regularly) off Gerard.”

Maybe this is just perception, but the defensive backs Hayes jousted with seemed bigger. Maybe Landry just seems so tank-like.

“Everybody looks like they’re 5-9, 5-10,” Richardson said. “They’re scuffling with him. It’s going to be interesting to see how they’re going to continue to play him.”

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