Meet 2021 LSU Recruit Keenan Landry, the Louisiana Native That Wants to Help Mold the Next Generation

Keenan Landry loves to play football. Football is the driving force of getting his foot in the door of a major university. It's a game he loves to play and can't wait to fulfill that dream.

But when he gets to college, football isn’t the only goal Landry will be striving to accomplish. While many bright-eyed recruits focus on the allure of playing for a major football program, Landry is excited by the academic possibilities that can be presented. Whatever college he ultimately chooses, he wants to major in business.

A dream of Landry's has always been to start his own company back at home in the town of Jennings, Louisiana.

"Hopefully I can start one back at home to help the community, help the kids," Landry said. "I'd like to start up a rec center for sports. Down here, if you're over 100 pounds you can't even play rec football. I was in that boat and a lot of guys don't get that opportunity to play until they're in junior high. I'd want to change that and give those kids that opportunity."

Before facing the rigors of the business world, Landry is immediately faced with the challenge of finding the right university, the right fit to act out on his college football dream.

Landry said LSU, Baylor, Kentucky, Florida and Stanford have all reached out to him in the last few months but the Tigers are the only school as of now that has extended him an offer. That offer came way back in Nov. 21, 2017 when Landry was just entering his freshman season at Jennings High School.

The 6-foot-2, 295-pound lineman has spent a ton of time in Baton Rouge, with it being just a 90 mile drive from his hometown. The last time he visited was for Junior Day back in March but has also been to his fair share of football games in Death Valley as well.

Ideally, Landry is targeting a commitment decision in January of next year as he hopes to make more visits to some of the interested schools. On his last visit to LSU's campus, Landry was able to catch up with coach Ed Orgeron as well as defensive line coach Bill Johnson.

"He [Orgeron] just told me to keep up and that hopefully he'll see me there next year," Landry said. "We went into the defensive line meeting room with coach Johnson and we just watched some film and broke some stuff down for us. All he could really do was smile at me."

Landry has seen his game soar to a completely new level in the last year. As an interior defensive lineman, double and triple teams are nothing new for Landry.

What's changed over the last few years in his development as a football player has been his ability to still make an impact when he does fall into those double or triple team situations.

"I always find ways to make a play, I shed blocks easily, I always find my way to the ball and I set my teammates up," Landry said.

Taking on those extra blockers to help his teammates is a commendable skill for any interior lineman to have. It's what helped Tyler Shelvin become one of the Tigers' best defensive players last season and why he's receiving tons of first round buzz next year.

In the end there's still plenty Landry, currently a three-star prospect according to 247Sports, wants to show on his senior tape that he hasn't been able to in past years.

"I really want to work on my ball get off and my pass rush," Landry said. "Just working on different moves, working on combos and if one move doesn't work, being able to quickly finesse my way into the next move."

Landry is getting into a much more consistent routine in recent weeks and months from a workout standpoint. Monday will be arms, Tuesday is footwork through various drills and cardio, Wednesday is for the legs, Thursday is back to more conditioning and then Friday is a full body workout.

The really cool thing that Landry has been doing is not only training with a few of his teammates, but becoming a mentor for a few junior high school players as well. Going through the recruitment process is something Landry doesn't take lightly and wants to help the younger generation be more successful in their quest towards their college football dreams.

"It's a blessing for them to look up to me and just give my game to the people that do consider me a mentor," Landry said.

Playing for his home state so he can leave that legacy for the youngsters that look up to him has always been a goal of Landry's. In addition to the LSU offer, Landry has earned offers from Louisiana schools such as Tulane and Louisiana-Monroe.

Finding Alabama fans in bayou country is few and far between. While Landry did grow up rooting for LSU, his true fandom was with the Crimson Tide.

"It was just their dominance, I just liked watching them play and their mentality every time they went out," Landry said. "But I did obviously really like LSU growing up."

Landry was on hand for possibly one of the greatest pregame celebrations inside Death Valley for the LSU-Alabama matchup two years ago. While that ended up in a disappointing 29-0 loss for the Tigers, it left a positive impression on the Jennings product.

"The gamedays are crazy, that's a huge crowd to play in front of, a loud crowd," Landry said. "I've never seen anything like it before. It's crazy how so many people can come together for one team. It's amazing."