2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Nate Landman, LB, University of Colorado
Nate Landman has a pretty cool story. His father Shaun was an international rugby player and you can tell he raised his son Nate to be a brute force in the middle of a football field. When you watch film of Nate Landman he reminds you of an old school linebacker. He has some nastiness in him like a Bill Romanowski.
Landman was born in Zimbabwe, and would eventually grow up in California. Nate played high school ball at Monte Vista and was the number 5 outside backer in the entire state. He helped the Mustangs finish with a 12-1 record and finished the season with 32 tackles for loss. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE DUDE WAS A BEAST.
Landman played offense in high school too, similar to rugby. He caught 38 passes for 577 yards and 7 touchdowns. Overall, this kid was a freak on both sides of the ball. He would choose Colorado and as a freshman he played in seven games on defense and 11 on Special Teams. He finished his true freshman season with 17 tackles.
As a sophomore, he finished the year winning the Dave Jones Award with Mustafa Johnson which goes to the most outstanding defensive player(s).
He led the team in 2018 with 123 tackles and had 13 tackles for loss. Last year, the hard hitting linebacker started all 11 games and finished with 11.5 tackles per game. He finished with 127 tackles, and became the sixth player in Colorado history to record 250 tackles. He has 267 career tackles, and has played in 34 career games.
NFL teams love hard nose players who have good size and players who have smarts. Landman has all those qualities.
NFL Draft Diamonds Scouting Notes:
Nate Landman is a nasty linebacker. He loves contact, you can see it when you turn on the film. I think of Bryan Cox, when I watch his film. You can bank on it that #53 is coming at you with a head of steam when you come through a hole. He even looks the part with his old school neck roll. He is wearing that to protect you, because he knows he is going to hit you hard as hell. I love tenacious linebackers, and this kid is athletic and mean. – Damond Talbot, NFL Draft Diamonds, Owner
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com