Landon Tengwall: Beyond Penn State Football and Recruiting

Four-star offensive lineman Landon Tengwall is Penn State Football’s top commitment in the 2021 recruiting class, and shared his insight on how he wound up in Happy Valley with Victory Bell Rings

Landon Tengwall is Penn State Football’s top commit in the 2021 recruiting class. Despite this, there’s a lot that Penn State fans don’t know about him personally.

Fans know Tengwall as the 6-foot-6, 300 pound muscle mass offensive lineman that is an out-spoken recruiter and the future of Penn State’s offensive line.

But, there is much more to Tengwall than that.

“I love lifting weights,” Tengwall said, during a wide ranging interview with Victory Bell Rings. “That’s something I even started to pursue before football. I do that every single day, that’s kind of my second love.”

Not only does he love weightlifting, he also seems to love the State College food scene. On his last visit to State College, he hit some of the best spots.

“The Field was amazing,” Tengwall said. “The Field is probably one of the best spots, I can’t wait to eat more of it.”

So what did Landon order at The Field? One order of fired pickles, three orders of table fries, a burger and a peanut butter pretzel milkshake. He admits it was his cheat day for the week.

The Field wasn’t his only favorite, as it turns out James Franklin has a recruiting tool he probably didn’t know about.

“One thing I love is Duck Donuts,” Tengwall said. “That’s probably one of my favorite donuts because I always go to Outer Banks and I think they originated in North Carolina. Once I found out we had one in State College, I was super hyped.”

Tengwall says he plans to treat himself to Duck Donuts after big games.

Landon’s love for food was backed up by his high school teammate Dylan Tulacro who made it a point of emphasis to say that Landon loves food.

Speaking of Outer Banks, Landon had some thoughts on the hit Netflix show.

“I’d give it a 5.5 out of 10,” Tengwall said. “I enjoyed it.”

So while Outer Banks wasn’t his favorite, another hit show is.

Tengwall cited Friday Night Lights as his favorite TV show, saying he’s watched the series at least ten times.

“You can’t go wrong with high school football,” Tengwall said.

The 4-star recruit talked about his competitive spirit and how it is not limited to football.

“Anything that’s competitive, even if I’m playing a video games, if I’m playing ping pong, obviously the football field, I get ruthless,” Tengwall said. “I get into a zone, like I don’t care about anyone’s feelings. My favorite thing in the world is probably putting someone into the dirt.”

Tengwall admits that this isn’t always the ideal mindset.

“Sometimes if I go bowling with my girlfriend, I get like that, it’s almost how I am.”

Those poor bowling pins.

Unfortunately, Tengwall won’t be able to put that competitive juice to use this Fall, as his senior season was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Man, it really sucks, but I’m just happy to get started at Happy Valley,” Tengwall said. “It’s time to move onto college.”

You may wonder what other sports a competitive guy like Landon plays, and the answer may surprise you.

“I played water polo for like eight years,” Tengwall said. “I was a junior Olympian, I loved water polo. That was something I was going to do for a long time, and then I kind of decided to switch to football.”

Tengwall notes that his dad spending time on the Olympic water polo team got him interested in it.

Away from the competitive field is a different story for Tengwall mentally though.

“He’s just very relaxed and chill otherwise,” Tulacro said. “He likes to come to my house for game day, we watch almost all the football games every week. He’s a really great guy to be around.”

Tengwall reinforced this by saying, “A lot of people call me a gentle giant. Out of football, I’m a sympathetic person that’s looking out if you need help.”

Penn State fans on social media are well aware of Tengwall’s personality on the platforms.

“I love social media, I love interacting,” Tengwall said.” Obviously we have the best fans in the nation. I think it’s really cool, especially being a young guy having fans want to interact with you, supporting you. The support is amazing.”

It’s not all about support for Tengwall on social media though.

“Love a little trash talk too,” Tengwall said. “You know a couple Maryland fans, got to give them what they want.”

Tengwall, who has complied 27 college offers, credited social media as a reason why other coaches don’t reach out him anymore. “I love to show how passionate I am about Penn State on social media.” Tengwall said.

Playing football while being a college student can be a tough task, but Tengwall says he’s up for the challenge thanks to his high school experiences.

“Good Council is probably one of the better academic schools in Maryland,” Tengwall said. “My grade point average didn’t really change going from an easy school to a hard school. I just made me work hard.”

Tengwall explained that he has to leave his house around 5:30 a.m. to get to school and sometimes wouldn’t get home until 9 p.m. because of football.

“That’s why I think I’m going to do well in college, I just adapt easy.” Tengwall said.

Tengwall, who is the second highest rated offensive line recruit of the Franklin era, says he plans to study business at Penn State.

Landon Tengwall recently added a couple new tattoos, one being the grim reaper. He explained the significance behind it.

“That one is basically live every day to the fullest because the grim reaper takes your life,” Tengwall said. “Live every day like it’s your last, have a good time, enjoy life.”

As for Saturday’s season opener against Indiana? Tengwall predicts 42-21 victory for the Nittany Lions.

“I think it’ll be kind of close at halftime and we will come out and pull away.”