Campbell relaxed, ready to step into starting role

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The news was bittersweet for cornerback Christian Campbell as he exited spring ball knowing he'd be in line for a starting job after teammate John Reid sustained a significant knee injury.

"Really, I was already prepared for the moment," Campbell said. "I've prepared like a starter before so when they told me I was up I was ready for the moment because I was already prepared."

Campbell burst onto the scene at Penn State as a true freshman, playing in 10 games and making one start. When healthy he's been a reliable presence, chipping in on special teams and rotating in regularly on defense, becoming someone who James Franklin said the staff has long viewed as a starter. Despite Campbell technically starting in just four games in his career, he wracked up a lot of snaps by playing in 31 games.



With Reid sidelined for what could be the season, Campbell's final go around at Penn State is a chance to bookend a career that once featured a promising true freshman stepping on the field, but then was slowed by injuries. This was the first offseason he's made it through healthy since that freshman year, Franklin said.

"Christian Campbell has had a really, really good camp," Franklin said this week.

While being a regular starter is a title that Campbell hasn't had up until this point, he knows the defense inside and out and has become a mentor to the younger cornerbacks. That role is also particularly important since freshmen Lamont Wade and Tariq Castro-Fields are both cornerbacks the coaching staff highlighted multiple times this offseason as players who could push for playing time right away.

"[Tariq] always comes to me asking questions. If he messes up on the field he will come to me all the time and be like, 'Yeah, I did this wrong. Can you tell me how to fix it?' " Campbell said. "Anytime he messes up on film he'll bring me the iPad and be like, 'What could I have done better on this play?' "

Wade continues working in as the nickelback and by Campbell's estimations is "getting great at it."

While the depth will certainly be tested and the Lions could use six corners this season, the starting cornerback duo of Campbell and Grant Haley is another reminder of Franklin's first recruiting class and how some geographical outliers still come into play. Haley, from Atlanta, and Campbell, who hails from Phenix City, Ala., were among the players who followed the staff from Vanderbilt to Penn State.

"Christian is one of those guys that's been through the ups and downs and he's the healthiest he's ever been in his career here at Penn State," defensive coordinator Brent Pry said at the team's media day earlier this month. "He's got a lot of maturity, and he's a great complement to Grant Haley out there."