Landers completes journey at Grambling, headed to Division II Shaw University program

Fourth-year starter Brandon Landers was declared academically ineligible on the eve of the fall 2008 practices and did not play in the Tigers championship season.

GRAMBLING, LA — Brandon Landers, the playmaking former Carroll High and Grambling quarterback, only gained a few yards on Friday morning. They meant more than any touchdown. Landers walked across the stage at GSU to accept a criminal justice degree, something that once seemed unlikely after the fifth-year senior starter was lost to ineligibility last August. “To come so close and fall so short,” Landers said, “I had to stay positive.”

Landers, who continued his studies while working as an assistant coach last season at Richwood High, will finish his playing days at Shaw University, a North Carolina Division II program. Shaw, which just earned its second consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship, is led by former Jackson State coach Darrell Asberry. His staff includes ex-GSU running back Vyron Brown, an assistant at Grambling during Landers’ tenure. The Monroe native also sought advice from several members of the current GSU staff who have deep roots in the North Carolina area.

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Final narrative for Grambling’s Landers hasn’t been written

Brandon Landers’ time at Grambling, as impressive as it is statistically, will always be one of lost promise. But his narrative is far from finished.

Landers initially signed as a prep quarterback with Doug Williams, only to see his would-be mentor leave for an NFL job. Then he was pushed too early, and with too little instruction, into the starting position as a true freshman in 2004 when Bruce Eugene went down. Then pushed back into a redshirt, and largely ignored, a season later when Eugene returned. Then pushed around as a redshirt sophomore in 2006, having belatedly retaken the starting position without ever having been properly prepared for it.

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Grambling reports today with looming question at quarterback

GRAMBLING — Old conventional wisdom at Grambling: The offense will have to adjust in the absence of departed record-smashing receiver Clyde Edwards. New conventional wisdom: Let’s worry about the situation at quarterback first.

It appears that starting quarterback Brandon Landers forgot about his responsibilities as "student" first and may be ineligible to play in his final year for the Tigers.

Grambling players report for fall practice sessions today, with Edwards in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ training camp — and fifth-year senior passer Brandon Landers teetering on the edge of ineligibility. The Monroe product confirmed his academic struggles late last week, putting into question the effectiveness of an offense built around Landers by a second-year coaching staff.

Academics could sideline Grambling's senior quarterback

GRAMBLING — Monroe product Brandon Landers, a three-year letterman at Grambling State, will likely miss next season over an academic issue. “I’m trying to see what I can do,” the quarterback said. “I didn’t get the grade I needed (in a history class), so it’s up in the air right now if I will even play.”

Landers, a fifth-year senior after redshirting in 2005 at Grambling, most recently posted career highs for completions, yards and touchdowns in the inaugural season under GSU coach Rod Broadway. That helped the Tigers advance to their fifth Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game since 2000, before falling to Jackson State last December.

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