Lions rookie linebacker and West Point graduate Caleb Campbell will graduate from his Basic Officer Leadership Course next week and then start to get ready for his first NFL training camp, two years after the Lions picked him in the seventh round of the 2008 draft.
Although Campbell was disappointed when the military changed its policy and required him to put in two years of service before he could play in the NFL, he now says he’s glad it worked out this way.
“I initially was very bitter, but I can truly say that over the last two years it has been such a blessing that I didn’t play football,” Campbell told Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News. “I have matured, and I have grown up as a person, and I found out a lot about who I am and my character.”
Campbell has been stationed at West Point for most of the last two years, and he says he’s stayed in shape by running obstacle courses and heading upstate to Lake Placid to work out with the U.S. Olympic bobsled team on weekends.
Realistically, Campbell is a long shot to make the Lions’ roster, but coach Jim Schwartz is impressed with Campbell’s conditioning and eager to give him a chance.
“Any time you have big guys that can run, there’s things you can do with them,” Schwartz said, “special teams, nickel packages, a lot of different stuff, and he’s been pretty good that way.”
That chance is all Campbell wants, even if it’s coming two years later than he’d hoped.
