COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Landon Gallagher had been down this road before.

So when the Saint John's defensive tackle felt his back crack during a play in practice this preseason, the pain was accompanied by a dreadful twinge of déjà vu.

"Honestly, it felt the same way it did my freshman year, so I was pretty worried," said Gallagher, who missed the entirety of his first season with the Johnnies in 2021 after injuring his back while training that summer.

"It was a play like any other," he continued. "I felt a crack and I tried to put it out of my mind. I kept practicing the next few days, but it kept getting worse and worse. I knew I needed to get it looked at.

"Initially, they thought it might be (spondylolyis, a stress fracture in the lower back) which would have ended my season."

That would have been a cruel blow to the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Vista Murrieta (Calif.) High School graduate, who chose to take advantage of a medical redshirt and return for a fifth season this fall after recording 28 tackles, including 6.5 for a loss, and four sacks a year ago.

Fortunately, though, the eventual diagnosis was a herniated disc. Still plenty painful, but after sitting out the first two games, Gallagher was able to be back on the field with his teammates when the Johnnies blanked Augsburg 63-0 on Homecoming last Saturday (Sept. 27) in Clemens Stadium.

And he will be there again when SJU (4-0, 3-0 MIAC) - ranked No. 4 nationally in both the most recent American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and D3football.com Division III polls - travels to Arden Hills to face No. 11/12 Bethel (3-0, 2-0 MIAC) in a key conference showdown scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 4).

"I can't even put into words what that was like," said Gallagher, who finished with two tackles, including one for a loss, against the Auggies. "It's been a roller coaster of emotions – from thinking I might be done to now getting what feels like a second chance."

It's a chance he didn't get as a freshman when, after deciding to come halfway across the country to play for the Johnnies, the Californian ended up watching his first season from the sidelines.

"That got tough at points," he said. "I was part of the football team, but I wasn't participating in anything. I wanted to be out there, so it made the transition a little more difficult than it might have been otherwise."

Yet he never thought of packing up and heading home.

"I didn't want to come here and have it be seen as a failure," Gallagher said. "That's how it would have seemed to me if I left after one semester. I kept telling myself to give it time. To wait until I had a full year under my belt to play, and I had the chance to meet more people.

"Then I got to the next year and it wound up working out."

Indeed, Gallagher saw some action in 2022, then found his way into the starting lineup in 2023, when he finished the year with three tackles-for-loss and two sacks. It was during that season that he moved from defensive end back inside to defensive tackle – the position he primarily played in high school.

The switch set the stage for last fall when he earned All-MIAC honors for the first time.

"Once you get that taste of success, it tends to build confidence," said SJU defensive line coach Damien Dumonceaux '05, who is also the team's recruiting coordinator. "I think you saw that happen with Landon last season. The longer guys play in our system, the more successful they end up being.

"Losing him for the first couple of games this season was a real blow because he's so incredibly talented. The way Landon plays defensive tackle is now the standard we expect from the rest of our guys at that spot."

And now Gallagher – the youngest of Matt and Jessica Gallagher's four children – rejoins a defensive unit that has yet to allow a point. It marks the first time since 1965 that the Johnnies have begun a season with three-straight shutouts.

Not only that, but SJU is allowing an average of just 151.7 yards per game in total offense, 70 yards lower than any other MIAC team. And the Johnnies and Bethel are tied for the conference lead with nine sacks.

The defensive line has been a huge part of that success. Gallagher's roommates Zach Frank, a returning All-American, and Tommy Gilmore are also back for fifth seasons on medical redshirts. His former roommate and fellow Californian, senior Chandler Obering, is also a key part of the rotation.

So are sophomores Grady Minnerath and Jawahn Cockfield. And Charlie King, who transferred from Division II Minnesota State-Mankato prior to last season, is expected back from injury soon as well.

"The chemistry between all of us is second-to-none," Gallagher said. "(Frank) and I have lined up next to each other for three years now. I know what he's thinking and where he's going on any given play. But everyone communicates really well with each other.

"We knew our defensive line was going to be strong. But our secondary is playing awesome and so are our linebackers. I've been itching to get back out there and be part of it all. You always want to say you're a contributor to a dominating defense."

Gallagher, an exercise and health science major, is planning to attend graduate school next fall with an eye on pursuing a career as a strength and conditioning coach at the college level someday. To that end, he's spent plenty of time observing and learning from Justin Rost, who holds that role at SJU.

"Ultimately, I want to do what he's doing," Gallagher said. "So it's helped a lot to check out how he makes his programs, and what his day-to-day job is like. I've picked up a lot being around him that will help down the line."

For now, though, he's focused on making the most of his final season.

"Getting hurt the way I did early has made me even more grateful to be back now," Gallagher said. "It puts it into even clearer perspective that any day could be the last time I play football.

"I want to take advantage of every opportunity I still have and make them count."