Next Step -- Landino Ready to Help Lead the Defensive Line Way
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Mario Landino disrupts in measured doses now, as practice builds toward Thursday night’s Indiana spring football game at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
It suggests what this 6-foot-4 and 288-pound junior defensive lineman will do when he’s fully unleashed for the upcoming season, which opens Sept. 5 against North Texas.
For now, Landino is an up-and-coming leader of the Hoosiers’ new-look defensive line, a group that blends returning veterans, college transfers, and promising youth.
“We have four new freshmen and three new redshirt freshmen,” Landino says, “so there’s a lot of new people and a lot of new faces. I have to vocally be a leader and then show them on the field, which is most important. They’ve been doing a good job stepping up in the meeting room and now on the field.”
Veteran leaders such as defensive lineman Mikail Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds set examples Landino seeks to follow. That includes a 27-2 two-year record, the program’s first Big Ten championship since 1967 (first outright title since 1945), consecutive playoff appearances and last season’s 16-0, first-ever national championship.
All three came to IU with head coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison. All are positioned for NFL opportunity.
“Having two years of that culture built up and continuing to build when I first came here, bringing in those guys set a base standard,” Landino says. “Now, it’s about being a person to help continue that so that we’ll have more people come after me and the culture will continue to rise.”
Seeing those veterans in action, he adds, was invaluable.
“I got to watch them and how they were the leaders of the defense and how they were able to lead during games and off the field. I learned a lot from them. Now I can take that upon myself. That’s how I can get better.”
Landino and Tyrique Tucker, a 6-foot, 307-pound defensive tackle, form an imposing inside combination, and always have.
“We have great chemistry between us,” Landino says. “There are certain times we can help each other make plays. It’s not all about ourselves. We both know that. We both have goals in mind. It’s getting on the same page this offseason.
“We want to build upon what we did last season. We have to get better. It’s just communicating with each other better. I think it will work out great.”
So does Tucker.
“We’re pretty close. We were hanging out yesterday, just chilling. It’s just us playing together and getting reps.”
Landino sees promise in young defensive linemen such as true freshmen Blake Smythe, Gabe Hill, and Ronelle Johnson.
“Blake is a very smart kid,” Landino says. “He always comes in early and works after. I see him working with (defensive quality control coach James Carpenter) in the meeting room after we’re all gone. He’s putting it together.
“We have a bunch of young guys who are, compared to me, when I was a freshman, I was 250 pounds and they are like, 280, 290. That comes from the winning we’ve done and the culture we’ve built. It’s nice to see that and that the guys are taking it all in.”
Landino played in 12 games as a true freshman in 2024 after a standout career at Pennsylvania’s Emmaus High School where he totaled 97 tackles, 20 for loss and three sacks as a senior. He had originally committed to James Madison, but he switched to IU when Cignetti took over the Hoosier program.
At times, he says about that freshman season, it was a “struggle.” That was especially true when he arrived at IU for the spring semester, a quick jump from high school to college.
“Learning the plays was the biggest thing to help me get on the field,” he says, “but that first semester, it was hard to understand the plays. I’d go into practice unprepared. It was a lack of preparation.
“It was a matter of learning from that so that building into fall camp, I was able to prepare more. That was the biggest thing.”
Reinforcement came again last season with quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s arrival after transferring from the University of California. Mendoza went on to win the Heisman Trophy and projects as the No. 1 NFL Draft pick.
“We saw Fernando and how much he prepared and how it worked for him,” Landino says. “Reps are massive.”
He took a big step last season with 32 total tackles, 5.0 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and three pass breakups.
As for last season’s 16-0 national championship run, Landino says it was “awesome” and a “great time,” but “you keep telling yourself to remove it from your brain because last year doesn’t affect how this year will go.
“We have to get better – always. It’s like Coach Cig says, you either get better or worse. We’ll get better this spring and summer and continue into fall camp.”