After our careful perusal of the football roster, the athletic department slipped in something else:
Linebacker Nate Campbell has returned for his senior year after being dismissed from the team and leaving school last year.
Campbell's a rangy athlete — sort of a poor man's Matt Stewart — except he's got 16 career tackles in two seasons and was just starting to earn some real playing time before leaving the team at the start of last season.
Not that we really needed him. We've got Chris Marve, of course, as well as senior John Stokes and a whole boatload of redshirt sophomores — Archie Barnes, Dexter Daniels, Tristan Strong and DeAndre Jones, all of whom have a shot to start this season. Then there's another redshirt sophomore, Micah Powell, who'll also play some safety, and Blake Southerland, a redshirt freshman who's being groomed to eventually replace Marve at middle linebacker.
So Campbell's addition is like Chris Johnson being added to the team last season at the eleventh hour. He's an older guy who can provide some leadership — in this case, what NOT to do — as well as some depth especially on special teams.
3 comments:
He's a poor man's Matt Stewart, huh? Guess it's not good that I don't even know who Matt Stewart is.
Congrats to Marve (Mavre?) on making All-SEC, btw.
I'll take a Nate Campbell any day of the week. Good enough to get in the game at LB and will be a contributor on special teams. I think he was booted for academic reasons, so it like this guy had some moral issues. In fact, I commend him for having the nads to come back after the embarrassment just to see some spot duty.
Good point. How many guys have academic or whatever problems and then leave and never return. It says something for Nate, and for the university to give him another chance.
To Loblaw: Matt Stewart was a Vandy linebacker who graduated in 2000 and played four seasons for the Falcons, two with the Browns and maybe some with other teams. Last time I saw him play at Dudley Field, he intercepted a Brock Berlin pass and returned it for a touchdown against Florida. (Berlin, who later transferred to Miami, was backing up Rex Grossman and Jesse The Bachelor Palmer.)
Post a Comment