Landon Young is someone just about every Kentucky fan is familiar with.
The first five-star recruit in the program's history during the Rivals.com era has developed into a two-year, soon to be three-year starter in the Southeastern Conference.
He bounced back from a season missed due to injury to grade out as one of the SEC's top lineman, and during the same 2019 season he won a major national award for his off-field work.
Here's Cats Illustrated's Q&A with the man who will be protecting Terry Wilson's blindside this coming season.
Cats Illustrated: Before talking about football, you were the Captain of the 2019 All-Star AFCA Good Works Team. How much did that mean to you?
Young: It felt really good. At the end of the day I don't do what I do in the community for the awards, of course, but at the same time it's sort of nice to be recognized for something other than football. Maybe it will help people realize we're not just these jocks or athletes who just lift every day. We go out into the community and we're involved in a lot of other things as well. That's what it's about for me. That recognition for other athletes and what they do besides sports.
CI: Some of the work you've done includes visiting nursing homes, speaking at schools and churches, work with Habitat for Humanity, visiting a children's hospital, working with a recovery center, yard work for people, a service trip to Ethiopia. What motivates that ongoing commitment to service?
Young: I would say a lot of it is just the way I was raised, my parents and my grandparents. I owe a lot of that to them. They tried to raise me right. They expect me to do that. I've been given so much and I've been blessed so much, to be able to give something back, whether it's a little bit of time or my abilities or effort, that's the least I can do. The whole city of Lexington and the people in my community have been so important in my life.
CI: Out of all those things what have been some moments or experiences that have really shaped you or stuck with you?
Young: I can say there were probably a couple of things. Something that really stuck out with me of course was being really involved with the Cambridge Place with Tim Biggs. That was something that let me give somebody a little hope. A lift maybe. People who may never see their family again or they were dropped off because their family doesn't want to see them. Maybe they're having trouble finding motivation because they're in a nursing home. Then Ethiopia was just a completely opposite experience compared to what we're used to here. It's how people are living on the other side of the world. Seeing the things we take for granted, even in quarantine, how they're not even a possibility for so many people.
CI: Turning to football and looking back to last year, coming off that injury, how long did it take you to get mentally right to where you weren't worried about messing it up again?
Young: It was pretty much early coming into fall camp. That's when I was getting limited reps, getting back into it slowly and surely. Getting reps here and there, testing what my knee could do. What I felt comfortable doing and what I didn't. Through a lot of practice I was able to expand into the stuff I hadn't been as comfortable so by the time I was done with fall camp I was really comfortable on the field already. Of course, it's definitely a different feeling against another team like when we played Toledo. I didn't have my best game. But then we came out Week 2 against Eastern Michigan and got SEC O-Lineman of the Week. So it took a game to get used to it and then I realized everything's good, the surgeon had done a good job. There was a lot of rehabbing and then I felt like there was nothing to worry about.
CI: What was the rehab process like? Was it a pretty smooth process, a discipline each day, or were there ups, downs, was there a lot of uncertainty and fear?
Young: There wasn't a lot of uncertainty. It was a pretty straight line, six or seven months of just straight rehabbing and lifting, doing a lot of upper body lifting, trying to keep my stamina and conditioning up as much as I could. At the same time, I was limited with what I could do with my knee. I had to do one-legged squats and rehab the other knee completely different. It was slow and methodical, the recovery and transitioning from walking to starting squats, running in a pool and getting out to do some football exercises.
CI: How would you assess your play last season? Obviously Pro Football Focus says you were one of the top 14 offensive linemen in the Southeastern Conference like all of Kentucky's other starters. How would you assess your play?
Young: I definitely think it was a step up. I definitely don't think I plateaued from the last season I played. I think I utilized that offseason injury time to create some improvement in my game. I was able to really focus on my technique and what I needed to improve, to see the whole game, learn the whole game. It was a different aspect from being on the field as a player on the offensive line to coming to the sideline and looking at the whole game from a spectator's point of view. I came out that first game a little rusty but I was able to pick it up after the second game. By the end of the season I was getting good grades in games and feeling comfortable again. I think things went really well. I think our offensive line had a good season.
CI: As the guy who thought he was signing up to protect a quarterback's blind side, you ended up having a very different task last year with Lynn at quarterback. What was that change like for you?
Young: It was a lot different. It helped that we did run the majority of the time but at the same time in pass blocking we had to literally have no mental blocks. We didn't know where (Bowden) was going to go, if he was going to scramble out and make a play by himself, make a quick pass, a long pass. All of that made us be really disciplined in our technique just because we weren't really sure what was going to happen. He's a good athlete who was capable of doing it. He made a lot of really good plays for us.
CI: So every time you guys called a pass play it was sort of like deciding to play some backyard football?
Young: Yeah, pretty much. It was very different to say the least, because you get so used to your quarterbacks, so used to Terry and the way he runs and passes, you pretty much know what's going to happen based on the situation. With Lynn you don't. It's about let's go out there and pound it, wear them down, and then when we do decide to pass the defense doesn't think we're going to.
CI: How's it going to feel not having Logan Stenberg right next to you next year? He's been there pretty much all along.
Young: It's definitely going to be different and a little bit of a learning experience. I've played some next to Luke Fortner as well and I feel pretty comfortable playing with him. We came in from the same class. We've played with each other since we came here. As far as not having Logan here, we had a chemistry and we were able to play together really well. He knew everything I was going to do and I knew everything he was going to do as far as our steps and our combo blocks. That's something where, over the course of a couple of years, we really learned together and worked together well.
Now you're putting a new piece of the puzzle in there and having to completely re-learn it. You can't replace three years of experience in one season but you can do your best to mend those pieces back together as best as you can. There's going to be a learning experience with the new guy coming in. He doesn't have much SEC experience but he's a guy who's fairly capable of filling that spot. We've got to learn what we can do to benefit each other and compromise on blocks, pass offs, and sets, and figure out what's good as far as staying on the same level in pass blocks or combo blocks, whether he's too thick or thin, does he need to take more of a man or take over a man. Little things like that me and Logan didn't have to speak on.
CI: What are your thoughts on Kenneth Horsey, as he's presumably going to be stepping into that role?
Young: He definitely has the potential to be a really good player. He's had a lot of one reps with us through the spring ball we had but it's still an open playing field. You never know who's going to be in that starting five. Even with the starters you have, you've got to earn that right and that position. We've still got a lot of time before we play our first down and before we decide who's going to be in there.
CI: On John Schlarman for a moment, how much of an inspiration has he been, seeing what he's been working through?
Young: You know, Coach Schlarman's like a father figure to all of us. He's a really great guy. What you see on the field is what you get off the field. He's a salt of the earth kind of guy. When we go out there, the way he teaches us, cares for us, and brings us under his wing, it makes you want to go out there and fight for him so much. Even without the cancer. Then that gave us another reason to fight for that man even more. Even now with Zoom meetings we don't miss a meeting because he loves us. He loves the sport and wants to see us do good. He's a guy you really want to rally behind and fight for. He gives no excuse in his life for why he can't do something and he expects us to be able to go out there and work our butts off.
CI: Drake (Jackson) told us he definitely wants to coach once his playing days are over. Is that something you've given thought to?
I'm not sure I'd want to be a coach. I see the gray hairs that go along with it and I don't want to make mine escalate like that (laughing).
CI: But you've given a lot of thought to what you want to do, right?
Young: I've had a sort of plan like this for quite a while. I've always been an agriculturally based guy. I was born on a farm. I wasn't raised on one for as long as I wanted to be but we still had that agricultural background. I've studied animal science and graduated with an animal science degree. Now I'm trying to get the business side. I'd love to be a vet, to go to vet school after my football career is done. Hopefully I'll go to the NFL so I can pay for that myself. I've wanted to go but didn't want my parents to feel obligated (to pay), so I would love to do that. Then maybe open up my own farm. We still own the farm and I'd like to make that an operational farm on our own accord instead of leasing it out while there's no one to manage it. And then I want to be a business owner. I'd like to have the capital to own some different places and pay people to make me money.
CI: I take it you'll be watching the NFL Draft. Has it hit you and do you think often about how it could be you next year?
Young: It definitely hits me some, especially with agents who try to contact me. It gives me a reality check about it. I definitely know I can be a person in these footsteps and that excites me. That drives me to be an even better player. Sometimes I step back and say, it's real. Yeah, it's been a dream of mine. Not a lot of people get the opportunity. I do sit back and think about how blessed I am with my abilities and everything God has blessed me with. I realize this is the reason God put me on the earth with these talents and the work he's given me in my life. I want to use it as a platform for my faith to spread his word and get more people to know him.
CI: What have you been doing during this quarantine to stay in shape, stay right for whenever you guys get back?
Young: Our weight coaches have sent us some workouts that we can work on through the end of this. So we get workouts any way we can on our own. Me and my dad have taken the time to build a wooden squat rack and bench press, DIY, and I'm using a push-pull sled to do my own workouts. So I still have the facility and utensils I need to prepare my body for a season and stay in shape. I don't want to miss a lick where I was when we had to stop coming to spring ball and quarantine ourselves. My dad's been very good to me and has blessed me with his help. Not just me but a couple of other guys on the team.
CI: What about the possibility of playing a season with no fans?
Young: I've actually had a couple of other people ask me this question and of course the fans make football what it is. The BBN treats us like royalty and we appreciate everything they do. I don't want anybody to hear this and say they don't care about the fans. We truly do. But at the end of the day football is still the sport I love. Whether there's fans or no fans I'm going to go out there and play just as hard as if 65,000 people are looking at us. At this point anything we can do to have a season. This is my senior season. It's what I came back for, to play the game I love. That's the true reason behind why you should be playing football anyways. If you have any other reason for why you're playing it then it's probably not the right reason.
