COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Landon Danner is generally a laid-back dude.
 
"I enjoy chilling," he said. "I don't always need to be doing activities. I like to go outside and be with friends and family, but I also enjoy kicking back and watching football."
 
Catch Danner between the hours of, say, noon to 4 on an autumn Saturday though, and you'll encounter a completely different personality.
 
"As soon as game time gets closer, it clicks on," the 6-foot-2, 235-pound junior defensive end on the Saint John's football team explained. "The energy increases, the emotions get higher. I can feel myself getting more and more amped up.
 
"Deep down, I'm a competitor. I always want to win in whatever I do. So when I'm getting ready to take the field, a different side of me comes out."
 
That side has been pretty effective. After ranking second on the team in tackles with 69 (including 10 for a loss) at linebacker a year ago, he switched to defensive end this past offseason. 
 
He is currently again among SJU's leaders in tackles with 15, including four for a loss.
 
"He's done a great job so far," SJU head coach Gary Fasching '81 said. "He's a low-key guy, but he plays with a lot of energy and emotion. He's still learning the position. He's improved a lot since that first game against (Wisconsin-La Crosse). 
 
"If you watch him now, he's starting to do some things he wasn't doing back then – certain pass rush moves and how he takes on a blocker. He's figured stuff out and he's playing at a really high level, which is what we're going to need from him the rest of the way."
 
Switching positions is nothing new for Danner. He did it at Rosemount High School, where he was the starting quarterback for the Irish as a junior when they reached the Class 6A state title game in the fall of 2022. 
 
But head coach Jeff Erdmann (whose son Jackson was a multi-time All-American quarterback at SJU) felt he could help the team more at linebacker/defensive end and tight end, which is where he played as a senior – starting on both sides of the ball.
 
It proved beneficial as Danner earned a spot in the state all-star game while gaining valuable preparation for playing at the next level.
 
"Those were the positions colleges were looking at me to play in recruiting," Danner said. "So it made a lot of sense. There were no hard feelings at all. I was always more of a runner than a passer anyway. My moving allowed us to open up the playbook a little more and put me in a position where my attributes could most help the team.
 
"Helping the team is what matters most to me. I'll always go wherever they ask me to."
 
Danner started his SJU career at linebacker, earning a spot in the starting lineup as a sophomore when he started all 12 games for the Johnnies as they advanced to the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs a year ago.
 
This offseason, though, the coaching staff approached him about moving again and he responded in typically Zen-like fashion.
 
"He never questioned the move," said Fasching, whose team (6-0, 5-0 MIAC) – ranked No. 3 in both national polls – travels to Northfield to face Carleton (4-2, 4-1 MIAC) at 1 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 24) at Laird Stadium. 
 
"He's just a selfless player, like a lot of our guys are. They want to do what's best for the team and Landon is a perfect example of that. He's moved around a lot in his football career. But every time he has, he's been successful. That's a credit to his talent and work ethic.
 
"I also have to give a lot of credit to our coaching staff," Fasching continued. "When we named James Herberg as defensive coordinator this offseason, I sat down with both he and (assistant head coach and defensive line coach) Damien Dumonceaux and we went over our roster to see where guys fit best. Landon did a great job at linebacker, but with his size and speed, we thought he might be even better as a standup defensive end. 
 
"We actually moved both he and (fellow junior) Andrew Lipke from linebacker. And they've both been playing really well." 
 
"They thought I'd be a good fit on the defensive line and I was all for it," Danner added. "Switching positions does take adjusting. You have to master different skills and learn a new spot. But I'd been through that process once already, which made it easier. I've ended up really loving playing with the guys up front. It's a position where I can do what I think I do best – play fast and physical. The coaches have told me they've figured out where I belong. So that's a good thing.
 
"I think I'm done switching. I've found my home."
 
Defensive end is also a position to which he has a familial connection. His father Ryan, now a fraud investigator at Wells Fargo, played there for a season at North Dakota, then three seasons at Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the early 1990s.
 
"I'm playing his old position now so he's been able to give me a bit more information," Danner said. "He can relate to the things I'm working on and doing in practices and games. I've gotten a lot of pointers from him. So that's been pretty cool."
 
The Danner clan is an athletic household. Mother Tanya, now a manager at Lifetime Fitness in Woodbury, was a basketball player at Wisconsin-Eau Claire. And younger sister Olivia plays flag football, volleyball and basketball at Rosemount.
 
"We're all pretty competitive and we all like to win," Danner said with a laugh. "We'll go out and play golf or pickleball and it can get a little intense. When I was younger, the four of us would play mini games in basketball and none of us wanted to lose."
 
Danner, a global business leadership major with a minor in finance, hopes to one day pursue a career in marketing. For now, though, his goal is to continue improving as the Johnnies head down the stretch in the regular season with an eye toward making a deep playoff run.
 
"Every year, we write down our individual and team goals on a card," he said. "For a lot of guys, beating Bethel was a big one. We did that (winning 42-16 at home on Oct. 3). Then we got a big (33-23) win over Concordia last week. We have four more opponents left and we have to focus on taking them one at a time.
 
"If we do that, hopefully we can wrap up the MIAC title and have a shot at going pretty deep in the postseason. The ultimate goal for every team is winning a national championship. We feel like we have the talent to do that. But all we can really focus on is the next game in front of us."