Brown: Jack Campbell A Special Hawkeye

Iowa Senior Linebacker Leads On, Off Field

IOWA CITY, Iowa - When I filled out my Heisman Trophy ballot last week, one of my three votes went to a defensive player. Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell.

I know it has been and always will be an offensive-minded award. But here’s why I don’t feel like I wasted one of my three options.

The Heisman Trophy, they tell us, is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners “epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance and hard work.”

Diligence, perseverance and hard work describe Jack Campbell. He’s a helluva football player. A leader. A guy with maturity that exceeds his age on and off the football field.

“Jack does everything the right way,” his teammate, Spencer Petras said. “Every little level. He’s an awesome teammate. A great leader. He plays extremely hard. Just a really talented football player But to me what stands out more about Jack is just the way he does things, the way he conducts his business. You’re not going to meet a more first-class guy. A true professional.”

Campbell’s also a true student-athlete, and his numbers reflect that. He had 118 tackles, two interceptions, a recovered fumble, a forced fumble and 3.5 tackles for a loss as a senior. He earned first-team all-Big Ten honors for a second straight season and was named both the Nagurski-Wooden Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the Butkus-Fitzgerald Big Ten Linebacker of the Year.

Campbell also received the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy that annually “recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.”

Campbell has a 3.49 grade-point average with a major in enterprise leadership and a minor in sport and recreation management. In 2021 he received Big Ten Distinguished Scholar recognition and is a two-time Academic all-Big Ten honoree.

“An exceptional player, exceptional team member on top of it,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “To me that’s where the double value is. That’s what good players do. They not only play well, but they make guys around them play better. He’s definitely done that. Whether it’s on the field, off the field, away from the building, it’s not hard to like everything he does. A top-notch guy.”

Campbell has grown a lot in his four seasons at Iowa. The former Cedar Falls High School all-stater signed as a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder. He heads into a promising NFL future at 6-5 and 248.

After one of the 11 games Campbell played in as a true freshman in 2019, I passed Reese Morgan on the Iowa sideline. Iowa’s retired and highly respected assistant coach pointed to Campbell and said, “He’s going to be special.”

Iowa’s football history includes winners of most the game’s major awards, including the Heisman (Nile Kinnick), the Outland Trophy (Cal Jones, Alex Karras, Robert Gallery, Brandon Scherff), the Maxwell Award (Kinnick, Chuck Long), the Davey O’Brien Award (Long, Brad Banks), the Lou Groza Award (Nate Kaeding), the John Mackey Award (Dallas Clark, T.J. Hockenson), the Walter Camp Player of the Year (Randy Duncan), the Rimington Award (Tyler Linderbaum), the Doak Walker Award (Shonn Greene), the Jim Thorpe Award (Desmond King) and the Lott IMPACT Trophy (Josey Jewell).

The Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s top linebacker, joined that list of prestigious awards last Thursday when it was presented to Campbell. Larry Station was a runner-up in 1985. Jewell was a semifinalist in 2016 and 2017 and Chad Greenway a semifinalist in 2005.

On one wall in the all-American Room of Iowa’s football complex hang 28 portraits. All 28 men were consensus all-Americans after first-team choices on at least three of five outlets that name a team. Campbell will make it 29. He joined that exclusive club on Monday when he was named to the Associated Press all-America team. He was selected to he Walter Camp Foundation and Football Writers Association all-America teams last week. If he’s selected to the Sporting News (Tuesday) and American Football Coaches Association (Wednesday), he’ll become the 13th unanimous all-American in program history and the 10th of the Ferentz era.

And that gets us to the essence of Jack Campbell. Asked what he’d think if he walked into the all-American Room in 10 years and saw his portrait on the wall, he said, “It would mean a lot.”

And then he started talking about finishing strong. The next game has been and always will be the most important game to Campbell.

Ask him about the honors he’s received and he’ll tell you, “There are 10 other guys on the field, working to help everyone achieve everything they’ve wanted to achieve.”

I told Campbell how Morgan had predicted his bright future when he was a freshman.

“If I would have heard that, it wouldn’t have changed who I am,” Campbell said. “You have people all the time telling you how great you are, or how bad you are. So it’s just staying focused on what really matters. People can say all they want, but it takes action to produce what their vision is of you. Hearing what (Morgan) said wouldn’t have changed who I am. You just need to show up with the right approach every single day. I think that’s what it takes to be a great player.”

Campbell approaches each day with one mission - do the little things correctly.

“It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many people can’t do it,” he said.

Campbell’s single-minded focus doesn’t mean he won't recognize those who have helped him get where he’s at today.

He thanks his parents, saying, “The person I am is because of them. I’m just really appreciative of them and all they've done for me.”

He pours praise on his position coach, Seth Wallace.

“He’s the true epitome of a guy who is selfless and always puts others before himself to try to allow the linebacker play to flourish here,”Campbell said.

And he gives his teammates a nod every chance he gets.

“You wouldn’t expect anything less from him,” added Petras. “That’s just the way he operates. You couldn’t ask for a better guy to represent your program.”

Campbell has one more game to play for the Hawkeyes. One more chance to pull that No. 31 Iowa jersey over his shoulder pads and leave it all on the field.

“I’m just fully focused on being the best teammate I can be right now, the best leader I can be,” he said.

I ran into Morgan at one point this season, and reminded him of his Campbell prediction. He just smiled.

“That was an easy one,” he said.