Blue White Illustrated

Penn State was always a very important school to me' ' I N T E R V I E W L A N D O N T E N G W A L L enn State added its third commit- ment in the Class of 2021 on March 26 when Rivals100 o7ensive lineman Landon Tengwall announced that he had chosen the Nittany Lions over Notre Dame. The nation's 27th-ranked prospect, Tengwall earned 30 scholar- ship o7ers. Penn State tight ends coach Tyler Bowen was the 6rst to extend an o7er, although it was so long ago that Bowen was still at Maryland at the time. The o7er came in September 2017, the day a9er Tengwall played his 6rst high school game as a freshman. In the years that followed, Tengwall visited 10 schools. Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Ohio State were a few of the more notable programs on his list, but by last summer, Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State had emerged as the three schools he was focused on the most. He planned to see both Notre Dame and Penn State in March and April, then de- cide on April 16. However, once the NCAA enacted a dead period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tengwall decided not to wait. Blue White Illustrated recruiting ana- lyst Ryan Snyder caught up with Teng- wall recently to discuss a variety of subjects, including what it's like to be recruited at such a young age, what sep- arated Penn State from Notre Dame, and much more. BWI I want to go back to the very be- ginning of your recruitment. Tyler Bowen started recruiting you before you were enrolled in high school. Other coaches were interested, too. What was it like being recruited at such a young age? TENGWALL Well, I'll never forget my 6rst call. It was Coach Bobby [Bentley] at South Carolina. I believe that was in the spring of my eighth-grade year. That was mainly because [future Michigan signee] Blake Corum was staying with me and my family at the time, but still. He was interested in me, too. But at that age, unless the coaches know they're going to be going a9er you, it's not much. Coach Bowen knew he was going to be going a9er me. He was at Maryland at the time. It also depends on your coach and how much they push you. Most coaches don't care about eighth-graders, but I do think that's something that gave Penn State an advantage with me. I went to Penn State's camp that summer, and that's when I met Coach [James] Franklin. He knew then that he was going to want me down the line, so he introduced himself and we talked that day. He wasn't doing that for most eighth-graders. I don't think he did that for any other [eighth-grader] that day. So it just depends on your coach and the coaches recruiting you. But I did have coaches wanting to talk and I did start getting mail and stu7 like that before I played my freshman year. BWI You took 10 visits to Penn State between November 2017 and January 2020. I believe you also took 12 addi- tional visits to nine schools. What kept you coming back to Penn State? Was there something you were unsure of? Was it mainly just because of distance? That feels like a big discrepancy. TENGWALL Distance was a huge part of that. A big reason why I love Penn State is because it's a perfect distance for me. It's a three-hour drive from home, so it's far enough, but not too far. That's ideal for me. There were things that I wanted to learn more about as I got deeper into all of this, and also some of those trips were for camps and games, so they weren't all true visits with the coaches. But for me, I never really had that much interest in the SEC. I had to give those schools a look, but I was never really in- terested in those schools. That's why I didn't take too many visits down there. I was always going to be a Big Ten guy, plus Notre Dame, which is similar to the Big Ten. I was planning to visit Michigan and Notre Dame more. I had those visits scheduled to Notre Dame. I wanted to see Michigan more last summer, but I just couldn't make it. So that's just the way it worked out. It's also because Penn State was always a very important school to me. BWI When did Penn State become the team to beat? Last April, you told me you were still deciding between PSU, Michi- gan and Notre Dame. TENGWALL Honestly, I would say that they were always the team to beat. I think I knew from the very beginning, when I got that o7er, that they were going to be the team to beat. I just loved that place so much. I visited there and camped there before I got the o7er, so I knew about it a little bit, and from there it just got better. Getting to know their coaches and the players was a big part of that. The distance, like we talked about, de6nitely helped. There are a lot of things. State College is a cool town. There's so much that separated them. BWI When it became clear that on- campus visits were being put on hold, you originally mentioned that you wanted to visit PSU and Notre Dame one more time, then make your decision. What changed? Was Penn State putting pressure on you to make it o8cial? What were those talks like? TENGWALL They never pressured me to do anything that I didn't want to do, but we de6nitely talked about that. It was mostly just something that I wanted to do. I wanted to start helping recruit for them, so it is something we all talked about. I wanted to get the ball rolling. I knew I was going to come to Penn State. I saw what Ohio State, UNC and Clem- son were doing [in recruiting]. I saw the success those schools have been having, so I just thought that it was time. P

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