Frosh has “nose for football”

BOULDER» On a day when the Colorado football team honored its seniors, one of its promising freshmen made his presence known.

Nate Landman, a true freshman linebacker from Danville, Calif., blocked a punt and got his first significant playing time on defense in the Buffaloes’ 38-24 loss to Southern California at Folsom Field on Saturday.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Landman, who will turn 19 on Sunday, has been on special teams all year, but has now made big plays on defense in consecutive games as well for the Buffs (5-6, 2-6 Pac-12).

“He has a nose for the football,” coach Mike MacIntyre said. “He did that during fall camp. He’d always flash in there on a shortyardage play and make a tackle. He has that unique way of finding the football. We’re excited about his future.”

Landman had played just 18 total snaps on defense in the first nine games, with all of those plays coming late in lopsided contests.

But against USC, Landman helped to momentarily shift momentum to the Buffs. With the Trojans leading 27-7 in the third quarter, Landman made a tackle that dropped USC a yard short of the first down on a third-and-15 play.

On the next snap, Landman charged through the middle to block a punt that CU recovered at the 1, setting up a touchdown.

Landman said the Buffs were aiming to get as many rushers as possible on USC’s three-man protection shield and did that.”I just saw my opportunity and I took it,” Landman said. “We watched a lot of film on them and we noticed some tendencies and we were able to take advantage of that.”

Later in the game, Landman tackled USC running back Ronald Jones for a 1-yard loss on a thirdand-5 play.

Juniors Rick Gamboa and Drew Lewis have played nearly every snap at inside linebacker this season, but Landman played 19 snaps on defense against the Trojans, sometimes with Lewis on the sidelines. He finished with three tackles, including two third-down stops.

“We weren’t doing as good against the run, so we stuck Nate in there to see if he could do better against it there,” MacIntyre said. “He made some good plays.”

Although Gamboa and Lewis figure to start on Nov. 25 at Utah and possibly next year, as well, it may be tough to keep Landman’s play-making ability off the field.

“I credit that to definitely coach (Ross) Els, my position coach,” Landman said of his development and increased playing time of late. “Also playing behind Rick Gamboa and Drew Lewis, they’re great guys. They show me how to play the game right and that really helped me step up my game.”

Footnote.

On Monday, the Pac-12 announced that CU’s regular-season finale, on Nov. 25 at Utah, will kick off at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.