It is easy to go from being a 5-star prospect to the NFL. Hell, Jimmy Clausen did it. It is much harder, and more rewarding, to go from walk-on to the NFL. That is what Landon Feichter can do.

A few years ago during a countdown to Purdue Football I discounted Landon as "merely a walk-on", implying that he would be lucky to see the field. He called me out on Twitter and I was happily wrong. He went on to become a multi-year starter and lead the Big Ten in interceptions during one of those seasons. He was never the most intimidating safety, but he always played with a ton of heart and out-worked a lot of players to get there.

Production

Feichter was Purdue's defensive team MVP this past season with 105 tackles, five interceptions, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Not bad for a guy that I once said would be lucky to play. That was good enough for an honorable mention all-Big Ten selection. For his career his finished with 10 interceptions to be one of Purdue's all-time leaders in that category. He had 234 tackles and those numbers would have been higher had he not missed six games in 2013 with a broken leg.

Oh, and if you want to question his toughness, he broke that leg in a game in which he was playing with two broken hands.

Strengths

Landon was a definite ball-hawk of a safety. He had to make a lot of tackles because of blown plays in front of him and he saved innumerable touchdowns as a result. He was great at reading the ball in the air and his first career interception was returned for a touchdown in 2012. Except for those games missed in 2013 he played in every possible game of his career.

Weaknesses

He is not the biggest safety at 6' 192 pounds, but as I said, he plays with a ton of heart. Unfortunately, heart can only get you so far when the likes of Melvin Gordon are coming straight at you after trucking a defensive lineman. Feichter made many plays in his career simply because no one else in front of him was able to do so. He had some very big games, like at Nebraska this past season, but I would like to see what he could have done when he did not have to do everything.

Projection

I would be surprised if he got drafted, but I can see him getting a look as an undrafted free agent. I have been wrong before with him and would once again be glad to be wrong this time too.