Landry finds perfect fit
Preseason All-American dazzles at BC
Driving around the streets of Boston in October 2013, Al Washington had lost his bearings. But all he was concerned about was Harold Landry finding his.
On the night Washington returned from a recruiting trip following a 24-14 loss at Clemson, the then-Boston College running backs coach saw that he received “like 20 messages” on his voicemail once his plane touched down at Logan Airport.
“This is never good,” he thought.
The bad news, as relayed by head coach Steve Addazio, was that Landry, a prized defensive end recruit from North Carolina, was de-committing from his verbal pledge to the Eagles.
Washington, now an assistant defensive line coach at the University of Cincinnati, wasn’t about to let Landry get away that easily. So Washington got in his car, dialed his phone and drove.
“First I had to get a hold of him because he didn’t want to talk to me,” Washington said. “I’m persistent. I finally talk to him and we’re on the phone for about three hours. I’m driving around the city. At that time, I’m with BC, but there’s nooks and crannies in the city. So I’m driving around the city. I’m lost and I don’t have GPS on because I use my phone. I’m over by places I had no idea where the hell I’m at. And I’m fogging up the windows. We’re just going back and forth.”
The back and forth went on, and Washington even continued the pitch to Landry’s parents. Finally, Landry took the phone back.
“Coach, can I ask you a question?” Washington remembers Landry saying. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Coach, can I re-commit?’ I said, ‘You never de-committed in the first place!’”
Since Landry enters his senior season at The Heights as a preseason AP All-American defensive end and potential firstround NFL draft pick, that night had lasting implications.
“There’s so many things that come from that one decision,” Washington said, “and I felt that in the moment.”
“He’s just always been there for me,” Landry said of his relationship with Washington. “(He) was there for me in my recruitment, and the moment I stepped on campus, he was there for me.”
Getting to work
When Washington was first assigned to recruit North Carolina for the Eagles, he tirelessly pored over film to find players with talent and the requisite work ethic. He spotted both in Landry.
“In high school, you see guys pick and choose when they go,” Washington said. “(Landry) would go (all the time). … He just had an insatiable motor.”
A relative unknown in recruiting circles before his senior year at Pine Forest High School in Spring Lake, N.C., Landry had confidence in himself.
“I knew how good I was, but I didn’t want people to find out how good I was by me talking. I wanted to show it on the field,” Landry said. “My work ethic and the amount of work I put in, it was always there before I started getting all these accolades. It was just due time before it started to happen.”
In February of his junior year, Landry took an official visit to BC. After a 12-plus-hour drive with his family, it went well enough for Landry to make a verbal commitment to the Eagles.
But that set off a domino effect for other schools, who picked up their interest immediately.
“No lie, the next day, he had offers from South Carolina, Clemson, all these schools came to him in one day,” Washington said. “At that point it was kind of like a freefall.”
The offer count reached as high as 40, but BC jumping first was critical.
“They showed loyalty and dedication to me throughout the recruitment process,” Landry said. “It was a good feeling when they saw something in me when others didn’t, especially the schools in my area. At the time, they didn’t see what BC saw. I definitely appreciated that throughout the whole recruiting process.”
Another decision
Once Landry made it to BC, he overcame a knee injury his freshman year to become an elite pass rusher. Landry came to Chestnut Hill weighing approximately 235 pounds and is now up to 250 on his 6-foot-3 frame. Last season, he led the nation in sacks with 16.5 after 4.5 the previous year.
“The thing I didn’t know, that I learned over time, is how hard (Landry) works,” Washington said. “People talk about that stuff, but he is almost obsessed.”
Some of Landry’s best games have come against the best competition in the nation. Against Clemson last season, Landry had a sack and forced a fumble. He recorded two more sacks to go along with four tackles for loss and a forced fumble against Florida State.
“We thought he would be a real pass rusher,” Addazio said, “and that’s what he is.”
And with a premium on that skill in the NFL, Landry could have made millions had he entered the draft this past April. But even though his family wanted him to go, Landry decided to return to BC to see what he and his teammates could accomplish after winning their last three games of 2016 to finish 7-6.
“We taste it,” he said. “We know we’re capable of putting something special together. We know the success we had last season, it got guys to the realization that we can be a really, really good football team this year.”
As for the All-America honors, the NFL projections and the accolades, Landry tries to stay down to earth.
“It’s really cool to get all the attention,” he said, “but at the end of the day, the attention is worth nothing if you don’t go out there and back it up.”
And he’s backed up his decision — that almost wasn’t — to come to BC. So when Washington talks to Landry now, he leaves him with a simple message.
“Either way,” Washington said, “(Landry) won.”