From tiny Mount Pleasant and Mars Hill, Honeycutt embraces chance to make Browns’ roster

It was final Sunday morning, the day after the NFL draft had ended, and Landon Honeycutt was beginning to get just a little antsy.

Social media was doing what social media does, and the machine was frequently blasting out notifications of different small-college soccer gamers being signed to undrafted free-agent contracts, getting invited to rookie minicamps, and Honeycutt was genuinely pleased for them.  

However didn’t anyone need him?

Hadn’t he completed sufficient throughout his adorned profession at tiny Mars Hill College?

The efficiency at professional day?

He had gotten the impression that the NFL was .

Both means, Honeycutt had a pre-planned lunch along with his grandmother, Betty, scheduled, and he wasn’t going to overlook an opportunity to spend time with candy Maw-Maw Betty. She might at all times make him smile.

So Honeycutt received in his automobile and started the drive from Thomasville, the place he has been dwelling and coaching in current months, and headed to his native Mount Nice, the place he initially began constructing his immense gridiron portfolio and gone on to star in three sports activities for the city’s beloved Tigers.

All of a sudden, the cellphone trilled.

It was Honeycutt’s agent, Robert Walker, on the opposite finish of the cellphone.

“Hey, the Cleveland Browns are going to choose you up,” Walker exclaimed. “You’re going to camp!”

For a second, Honeycutt was speechless.

After his pause, he lastly managed, “… Actually? Are you joking proper now, or is that this actual?”

Walker, who lives in Indian Path, advised Honeycutt that the Browns additionally have been about to name him and make issues official.

“You’re heading up there subsequent week,” Walker barked.

Honeycutt was lastly comfy.

The dream, no less than the primary a part of it, had been realized.

This lunch was about to get even higher.

At Mars Hill, Honeycutt actually confirmed he has NFL chops.

Throughout his time as a Lions linebacker, Honeycutt turned the most effective Division II soccer gamers in America.

Many of the native highschool gamers in his class couldn’t say they have been the most effective in America, whether or not they went JUCO, small school or Division I.

As a junior at Mars Hill, Honeycutt was named the 2022 South Atlantic Convention’s Mountain Division Defensive Participant of the Yr after averaging 9 tackles per sport. That season, he additionally earned a spot on the Division II Convention Coaches Affiliation first-team All-Area checklist.

He would get even higher.

Throughout his senior marketing campaign with Mars Hill, Honeycutt amassed 107 tackles, 5.5 sacks and a pressured fumble – higher numbers than he had posted the earlier season. Along with making the all-conference squad once more, it was sufficient to earn Honeycutt a second-team spot on the American Soccer Coaches Affiliation’s All-America Crew.

And to suppose: Honeycutt had small objectives when he first enrolled on the faculty within the western North Carolina mountains. He didn’t count on the NFL to be in his future, particularly going to such a small faculty.

“My aim after I first went up there was to only get on particular groups,” Honeycutt mentioned. “I took it small. I merely wished to make the journey checklist and get on particular groups. That’s it. Because the season went alongside, I received just a little extra enjoying time.

“I used to be third string, after which I labored my means as much as second string at linebacker. I used to be nonetheless enjoying particular groups. Then, about three-quarters of the best way by way of the season, our starter damage his knee at Catawba, and I believe I began the final 4 video games my freshman yr.”

He didn’t miss a begin at linebacker the remainder of his time there.

Welcome to varsity soccer

However simply because Honeycutt’s journey from freshman particular groups guru to linebacker extraordinaire looks as if a fairytale doesn’t imply it had a storybook starting.

He had his share of struggles.

See, at Mount Nice, Honeycutt was the unequivocal star. A whole lot of occasions, he merely made spectacular performs purely on God-given potential.

That potential got here partly from genes that included his grandfather, the legendary Larry Honeycutt, who was recognized for his pace again when he starred Harmony’s Hartsell Excessive, and his soccer prowess that resulted in him turning into a standout at Mars Hill himself and later having Mount Nice’s subject named after him.  

However when Landon received to Mars Hill, it was just a little totally different than the times at Mount Nice.

“We have been in fall camp my freshman yr, and we have been going by way of blitzes,” Honeycutt recalled. “I didn’t know a few them, and my coach received on to me just a little bit. Being, I suppose, ‘a star’ in highschool, that by no means actually occurred.

“That was type of my actuality test. I mentioned, ‘Man, I must develop up and get in my playbook. That is totally different!’”

Welcome to varsity soccer.

Honeycutt realized that there was extra to excelling at soccer than utilizing pure expertise, and he began to hit the playbook – laborious.

“That was the day, I suppose, you could possibly say I matured into a school soccer participant as a result of I took it critically,” Honeycutt mentioned. “I began learning my playbook, and if there was one thing I didn’t perceive, we’d discuss by way of it. And just about in my free time, I simply hung out on the fieldhouse studying as a lot as I might.”

However there was much more he wanted.

He was an enormous child at Mount Nice, the county’s smallest faculty, which is why he frequently punished opponents along with his tackling as a linebacker and bullish techniques as a operating again.

Poor little youngsters who had no intentions of pursuing the sport past highschool have been pressured to make enterprise selections when encountering the burly Honeycutt, who was the Rocky River 2A Defensive Participant of the Yr whereas main the Tigers to the convention title as a senior.

Earlier than he graduated from Mount Nice in 2019, Honeycutt was 6 foot 2, 220 kilos.

However that wouldn’t suffice at Mars Hill, though it was a Division II faculty with an enrollment barely larger than Mount Nice Excessive, which had fewer than 1,000 college students.

He was going to must get within the weight room much more, improve his measurement, power and stamina.

“I nonetheless had a excessive school-type physique,” Honeycutt mentioned. “I actually hadn’t placed on an excessive amount of muscle. I used to be type of tall and slender. I wasn’t as quick. Then I placed on some muscle, and I used to be round 230, 240. It received just a little simpler.

“And as soon as I turned a pupil of the sport, it received a complete lot simpler as a result of I might have a look at offenses and what formations they have been in, the personnel on the sphere, the down and distance, how a lot time was on the clock, and I might slim down the performs (they have been going to name). I wasn’t sitting there going, ‘They’ll run no matter they need.’ As a substitute, I used to be considering, ‘Listed here are the 5 performs they’ll run.’ I had a greater likelihood of figuring out what they have been going to run earlier than they even ran it.”

By the point he wrapped up his Mars Hill profession, he knew that professional soccer might be part of his future if he continued to work.

Step one was to prepare for professional day, the place he would undergo an assortment of drills and exercises in entrance of professional scouts.

Like many small faculties, Mars Hill didn’t have its personal professional day. As a substitute, Honeycutt must attend professional day at one other school and elected to go to 1 on the opposite aspect of the state at East Carolina College on March 26.

At that very same ECU professional day, one other former Cabarrus County standout, Hickory Ridge product Jarett Garner, was in attendance as a large receiver. (Garner later signed as an undrafted free agent with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.)

At professional day, Honeycutt was listed at 6-2, 231 kilos and did 22 reps of 225 kilos on the bench press. He ran the 40-yard sprint in 4.74 seconds and flew 31 inches within the vertical leap.

“There have been some issues about it that have been good, however it wasn’t nearly as good as I wished it to be,” Honeycutt defined. “I didn’t run a (private document) 40 or something like that, however I assumed it was ok to the place I turned some heads, and that was all I used to be actually eager to do. I simply wished to maintain getting my identify on the market.

“I had rather a lot to show. I really feel like as soon as NFL groups begin speaking to a DII participant versus a DI participant, they’re in all probability simply going to take the DI participant, simply due to the extent of competitors. I similar to to say I wish to get my foot within the door and run round on the market in entrance of them and present (scouts) that I’m the identical measurement as (the DI gamers), mainly.

“And in the event that they don’t like me then,” he added, “that’s high-quality. No less than I gave it my all, and I do know that I’ve been up towards them.”

It clearly was sufficient to impress the Browns, who had the NFL’s sixth-ranked protection final season.

The truth that the Browns – or any NFL group, for that matter – could be personally calling him to come back to camp remains to be a bit unbelievable for Honeycutt.

“I used to be truthfully in awe,” he mentioned. “In case you had advised me throughout my freshman yr at Mars Hill, ‘Hey, you’re going to get an opportunity to go to the NFL and present your price,’ I might’ve mentioned, ‘There’s no means.’

“However then when it type of set in that I used to be going, I type of felt just a little little bit of strain like, ‘Man, I’ve by no means performed towards Division I gamers like that. I’ve by no means performed towards a man from Alabama or Georgia or locations like that. I’ve received to up my tempo after I’m understanding to be nearly as good as I could be – on and off the sphere. I’ve received to verify I study my stuff within the movie room, particular groups and issues like that. I’ve received to do as a lot as I can to get ready to make a group.’”

Since his professional day, Honeycutt has continued to work on himself. He’s been understanding at a neighborhood health club in Thomasville, and he goes to a YMCA subject to do linebacker drills. He’s been lifting 5 – 6 occasions per week and operating two to a few occasions per week. He rides a stationary bike someday per week to take a number of the strain off his knees and ankles.

Mentally, he’s additionally getting ready. With the assistance of a household buddy with NFL ties, he’s talked to former professional gamers and NFL rookies about what to anticipate. He’s had conversations with a number of guys from Mars Hill who’ve performed within the league.

Now, the child from tiny Mount Nice and Mars Hill will get to go show himself towards guys from the SEC, Large 10 and ACC faculties.

Prefer it was when he first matriculated to Mars Hill, his objectives are easy.

“My aim going into camp is, ‘Let’s make it by way of the primary day,’” Honeycutt mentioned. “Then, after that, it’s, ‘Let’s make it by way of the second day.’ Then, after that, it’s, ‘Make to the third.’ Then, if I’m nonetheless standing on the finish of the third day, the following aim could be, ‘Let’s go into the OTAs and take it day-by-day. Let’s attempt to get by way of this apply and have as few errors as doable.’

“Like I’ve been advised, ‘Don’t get too excessive on the highs, and don’t get too low on the lows. There’s a brand new day tomorrow; brush it off and be higher.’”

Honeycutt is scheduled to depart for Browns minicamp on Thursday with issues set to start on Friday. Simply from the response of oldsters in his hometown when social media started letting folks know he’d been signed final week, he is aware of he’s received a complete city behind him, if not a complete county.

“I suppose there’s a saying that goes, ‘You’ve a village behind you,’” Honeycutt mentioned. “Seeing my relations and different folks submit stuff about me (on social media) and them saying, ‘Please tell us the way it seems, please hold us knowledgeable,’ it simply exhibits that individuals do care about you. Coming from Mount Nice, this doesn’t occur each single yr, prefer it does at some excessive faculties. At (the College of) Alabama, it’s simply one other day if a man will get picked up by an NFL group.

“Coming from Mount Nice, just a little small 2A faculty, I wasn’t closely recruited. As egocentric because it appears, that did eat at me just a little bit, seeing guys go to D-I faculties. I wished to be that. I suppose after I received to Mars Hill, I simply stored that behind my thoughts that, ‘I’m going to be the perfect out right here and the perfect to come back from Mount Nice, I suppose.’”

Will Honeycutt be just a little nervous up in Cleveland subsequent week?

However he was just a little nervous the primary time he took the sphere for the Mount Nice Tigers, and the identical goes for when he left for Mars Hill.

And that is what it has made him: an All-American, a Dean’s Listing pupil and a man with an opportunity to make an NFL squad.

“I do suppose I’ll have some butterflies,” Honeycutt mentioned. “Proper now, I don’t have any. However as soon as that aircraft lands and I get in my lodge room and begin preparing for camp, I believe I’ll get some then.

“But it surely’s type of like I talked about with my agent: ‘I’m right here for a purpose, similar to all these different guys are, irrespective of the place they got here from, so don’t give in to them simply because they got here from a much bigger faculty.

“‘Go do what you do.’”