First off, I'd be careful about the Riot angle unless they release a new game pretty soon, as the company may start running dry on funds within the next couple years. They already had to sell out to an acquisition purchase, as I recall, and a developer can only get by on one successful game for so long.
That said, as far as being an animator in general? I'd focus on two things: Expressiveness and weight distribution. These two things are two of the most core in animation, in my opinion. If either of these are "off" or unbelievable, it ruins the whole animation. Apart from that, assuming you have all the basics down (which I assume you do if you have some college experience), I suggest studying games with particularly good animation.
Overwatch is superb at delivering character through the expressiveness of its figures. They're great at using motion to define a character's personality, and pay good attention to the little twitches and quirks that subtly make a character's expression more believable.
Most games by Rockstar are a good base study of how to make the body react to external inputs; GTA4 and Red Dead Redemption in particular. They use a physics engine, granted, and it's not perfect. But it can give you a sense for the little ways a body reacts to what's around it. It's important to make a character feel like it has weight. A soft strike should buffet even big, bulky characters slightly. A heavy strike should visibly jar at the point of impact, even if it's absorbed. Putting weight into a character's movements is a huge, if subtle, way of making them look lifelike.
For Honor takes this study a bit further as well, particularly as it relates to outputs rather than inputs. Their animations aren't all perfectly realistic, but they're extremely believable. You really feel the weight of every swing in that game, whether or not hit connects.
Final Fantasy XV does a really good job with facial animation and expressiveness, and their full-body animation isn't bad either. They also have some solid examples of creature animations throughout the game, and the way different movement profiles can give non-humans a certain "air".
The upcoming Jurassic World Evolution looks to be a superb study of animal movement and interaction. They've taken insane steps to ensure their dinosaurs move like living creatures that have weight, and varying amounts of muscle to move it. From what I've seen thus far, this may end up being the best non-human animation study to date within the gaming world.
Good luck, and I hope this bit of light advice serves you well.
