Nate Landman breaks down his newly-expanded role in the Buffs' defense

BOULDER — Outside expectations are high for Nate Landman as he enters his senior season. The CU linebacker made the preseason watchlist for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s best linebacker, and the Nagurski Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top defensive player.

He’s not all that interested, though.

“I appreciate the honor but that’s not what I’m focused on,” Landman told reporters Wednesday. “I’d rather go undefeated and win games with my team than win any of the awards.”

Landman came to CU as a tackle-first linebacker. In his sophomore year, he lined up next to Rick Gamboa at inside linebacker, earning the nickname “The Hammer” as he burst onto the Pac-12 scene.

Landman says working next to Gamboa helped him learn the added responsibilities that the inside linebacker job entails. Gamboa was the communicator for the defense. He’d take the calls from the sideline and relay them to the defenders. Landman was at his side, learning.

Last season, Landman stepped into that role but the new defense that former head coach Mel Tucker and defensive coordinator Tyson Summers installed had new layers to it. There were more checks that needed to be made on any given play.

It was a challenge.

“Taking that stride was important for me last year, as a leader and a player on the defense,” he said.

He “definitely” feels more comfortable making decisions for his defense heading into this season, but there will be even more on his plate in 2020.

“This year I’ve developed a strong relationship with Coach Summers, who is now my position coach,” Landman said. “We’re talking about me having a little bit more on-field freedom to make those calls myself if I see something, instead of always looking to the sideline; having more freedom to be more in control of the defense on the field and take advantage of what offenses are trying to do to us.”

Those added responsibilities are exactly what you’d expect for a top-level linebacker and Landman has reached that status. The only real question left about Landman’s game is how he fares in coverage, especially in a Buffs defense that places added coverage responsibility on its inside linebackers.

The first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker doesn’t seem worried about those concerns.

“Last year, towards the beginning of the season, I struggled with pass coverage,” Landman said. “As the season went on, I had more pass breakups and tighter coverage and even an interception toward the end of the year.”

How did he do it?

“Just studying offense more,” Landman said. “When I was young — freshman, sophomore year — I studied more O-lineman and O-lineman tendencies and running schemes instead of the perimeter stuff. Now I’m able to focus on routes trees and route combos and the way receivers are positioned. I think that just gives me an extra half-second and better my position and be able to make those plays.”

That extra half-second could be crucial for Landman as he progresses into one of the top defenders in all of college football and, hopefully, helps Colorado find ways to make more plays on defense. Those plays are desperately needed, as the Buffs’ defense struggled for most of last season, giving up at least 30 points in each of its first nine games.

“We’d get teams to third down pretty consistently and we’d struggle getting that last push to get off the field,” Landman said.

In the last month of the season, the Buffs reduced their defensive playbook by about 40 percent in order to simplify what they were trying to do on the field. Landman says the goal was “getting better at playing base and having a pretty wicked third-down package.”

It worked, as the Buffs allowed 13 points to Stanford and 14 points to Washington in November, and CU will continue to use its reduced playbook and work on its third-down defenses.

But before the Buffs’ defense can build off of its late-season success, it has to go through another month or more of training. As a team leader, Landman is central in making sure that his team is maximizing its workout time.

“I think being back in the weight room setting and the workout setting has refueled everybody’s fire,” Landman said. “(We’re) hearing hopeful things from (head coach Karl) Dorrell — he’s pretty positive that there will be a season — just keeping guys rallied on the main goal and winning games and keeping in the back of our minds that there will be a season and we’re working toward something.”