P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >>
practice, Campbell will most likely be one
of the Lions' :rst-team cornerbacks, lin-
ing up opposite classmate Grant Haley.
Campbell is hardly an unknown. He's
got a highlight reel that is full of impres-
sive plays: an interception runback
against Purdue, pass breakups on deep
throws by Indiana and Michigan, a beau-
tiful open-:eld tackle against Wisconsin.
But he's never been put in as prominent a
role as the one he will :ll in 2017. While
it's a big change, he believes he's fully
prepared for it a>er a series of spring
practice sessions in which he displayed
exactly the sort of consistency that the
coaches had been hoping to see.
"Playing corner, you can't be inconsis-
tent because the coaches won't trust
you," Campbell said. "With me being
consistent, it's made me a better player.
It's something that I developed over the
years. That's the goal that I was targeting
for a long time. And when spring ball
came [this year], that's when it all hap-
pened. I was just more consistent."
The Nittany Lions are fortunate to have
an experienced player ready to step into
Reid's sizeable shoes, especially given
that they hadn't been in the running for
Campbell until very late in the 2014 re-
cruiting cycle. He had been considering a
couple of Big Ten schools – Indiana and
Minnesota were the leaders – but the
Lions didn't become a possibility until
they hired Franklin in January 2014, less
than a month before signing day. Franklin
had been recruiting Campbell while he
and his sta< were still at Vanderbilt, and
shortly a>er taking the Penn State job, he
extended a scholarship oer signing day.
The game drew a crowd of 72,000 to
Beaver Stadium, with many of those fans
on hand to see Franklin make his debut
on the Nittany Lions' sideline. Campbell
had been expecting a big turnout a>er
reading online about how passionate the
Lions' fans were, but the size of the
crowd still caught him o<-guard. "I was
shocked at how many fans there were,"
he said, "and how much support you
get."
He went on to see action in 10 games as
a true freshman, including a starting as-
signment against Temple, a game in
which he had a key second-half intercep-
tion to help preserve Penn State's slender
lead. Most members of his class red-
shirted that year, even with the Lions'
roster still in a sanction-depleted condi-
tion, but as far as Campbell was con-
cerned, it wasn't too much too soon; it
was exactly what he had wanted.
"My goal when Coach Pry was recruit-
ing me was to come in as a freshman and
play," he said. "Some people have a dif-
ferent [plan], but mine was to come in
and play and get the feel of football. I
love football so much that I wanted to
come in and start playing at Beaver Sta-
dium."
Campbell saw plenty of action over the
next two years, both in the secondary
and on special teams. He made 16 tackles
and broke up two passes during an in-
jury-shortened sophomore season and
he topped all of those numbers last year,
finishing with 31 stops, six pass break-
ups, an interception and a fumble recov-
ery.
During his :rst three seasons of eligibil-
ity, he came to be regarded by the coach-
ing sta< as a de facto starter, the kind of
player who could be inserted into any
game without a signi:cant drop-o< in
the quality of the team's pass coverage. As
Franklin noted this past spring, "We felt
like we had three starters."
Now, with Reid potentially out for the
season, Campbell is the starter. There's
nothing
de facto about his status heading
into his :nal season. But while his role is
certain to expand, his approach is un-
changed.
"I was playing like a starter, wanting to
be a starter" while serving as a backup, he
said. "Now I still want to be a starter and
I'm going to play like a starter. So it's the
same. I've got the same approach – mo-
tivated and hungry."
The coaches were pleased with the
progress they saw during spring practice.
"He's had the best o<-season he's ever
had," Franklin said. "Christian has always
had little issues here or there that have
held him out of morning workouts or
have held him out of spring ball or what-
ever. He's had his most consistent o<-
season.
"We were kind of making fun of him.
We told him that this must have been a
contract year for him. It's his last year. He
knows he has to capitalize on it, and he's
really had a good o<-season. We're ex-
pecting big things from him."
Campbell's expectations are just as
lo>y. Franklin may have been kidding
around when he called the coming season
a contract year, but in one respect, that's
exactly what it is. From the start of his
football career, the NFL has been his
dream. It was one of the forces that drove
him during his career at Central High,
where he earned All-City honors a>er
making 58 tackles and intercepting two
passes as a senior, and it continues to
drive him at Penn State.
"That's been my goal ever since I was a
tiny boy," he said. "I love football so
much. … And I think as I've gotten older,
I've just figured things out. I've gotten
more mature, and I know what I have to
do to get better as a football player and
as a person. I'm praying to God that I
stay healthy throughout the season,
which I know I will. I've had to make
sacrifices and a whole bunch of other
stuff. But yeah, the NFL has been my
goal since I was a little boy. I'm definitely
striving for that."
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