Colts Wide Receiver Parris Campbell Turned to Terry McLaurin During Painful Rookie Year
One injury after another, this isn’t how wide receiver Parris Campbell envisioned his rookie NFL season with the Indianapolis Colts.
The speedy, second-round choice out of Ohio State watched other pass catchers make splashes in their debuts. One of them was his old Buckeyes roommate, wide receiver Terry McLaurin, an Indianapolis native drafted in the third round by the Washington Redskins.
McLaurin had 58 receptions for 919 yards and seven TDs in being named to the Pro Football Writers Association’s All-Rookie Team. That was supposed to be Campbell, who played in just seven games and had 18 catches for 127 yards and one touchdown.
Campbell endured a hamstring injury, then needed surgeries for a sports hernia, fractured hand, and fractured foot. The latter ended his season after Week 14.
“It was very taxing, especially for someone – I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Campbell said during a Wednesday Zoom video conference call. “I just always stay true to myself. My family was around me to support me during that time – teammates, coaching staff, really everyone around the building just was supporting me. During that time – injury after injury, rehab – you get to feeling kind of lonely. I had to like I said, stick to my family, my support system and they were there for me big time.”
An important voice was McLaurin, who knew Campbell’s playmaking capabilities as well as anyone.
“You get drafted rather high of other wideouts in the draft class and to see everybody have the success that they did, obviously, I saw it,” Campbell said. “Just the competitor inside me made me upset and wishing I was able to do things and make plays just as those guys, but I know – this is just from growing up – that everybody’s path is different. I know that everything happens for a reason. I had bumps in my path earlier than some guys. It was just the hand I was dealt. The one thing I learned throughout all that stuff is I’m not going to run from anything. I took my problems head-on. I just dealt with them, got better, learned and moved forward.
"A guy who I was kind of talking to throughout was Terry McLaurin. We all saw the season that he had. It’s funny because I feel like a lot of people on the outside looking in didn’t expect that, but I’ve known Terry for five years now. We were college roommates and all that stuff. I know the type of player he was so I wasn’t surprised. He was a guy that helped me throughout college and he helped me throughout those injuries as well. It was kind of cool to talk to him during those times.”
Parris Campbell (21) roomed with Terry McLaurin (83) at Ohio State.
Greg Bartram/USA TODAY Sports
Campbell says he’s been running 100 percent for about two months now. He’s adhered to a stricter regimen in his offseason routine, simulating every possible situation, working on active release techniques (ART), conditioning, massage, and stretching each morning and evening. When his body didn’t feel sound, he talked to Colts trainers to ensure the best recovery path.
If in top-top shape and prepared for anything, Campbell can be confident in what can happen in year two. He also credits Colts four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver T.Y. Hilton for teaching what it means to be a pro. He is also grateful to his family.
“Obviously, my support system starts with my fiancé and my son, and then it just branches out – a mother, a stepdad, grandparents, sisters, cousins, everybody,” he said. “I really was able to kind of grow with my fiancé at the time. She was really there for me in that moment just because I saw her on a daily basis. I was talking to my mom often – FaceTime, calls, the whole nine (yards). They were really there for me in that moment.
“With learning things about myself, I learned that I’m human. We kind of get caught up in we’re football players, we’re big-time people, but we face real adversity as well. That was some adversity that I faced. Honestly up until that point, I couldn’t say that there was really any real adversity that I had faced in my life. It was something I was challenged with. I learned a lot about myself. I learned to take challenges head-on. I’m not running from them and I really feel like I came up on top of them.”
Campbell couldn’t be more motivated to be the player that Colts scouts saw as a senior at Ohio State, where he caught 90 passes for 1,063 yards and 12 TDs.
“I am going in with the mindset that it’s a new year,” Campbell said. “I have kind of transformed myself into a pro and I have been able to see at least one season – maybe it’s not all 16 games, but I’ve seen just from watching and being in it, just getting the experience of being an NFL player. Just having that experience has helped me a lot. I know it’s only one year. There is tons of more stuff to learn and tons more stuff to do, but it was a good foundation for me even though it didn’t go the way I wanted it to go.
“Just going back, my number one goal of all was to have a set routine. Like I said, just going back to taking care of my body. Not only doing those things but eating the right things, making sure I’m fueling myself with the right things. Then going into the season, obviously, I have a main goal of playing every game that we play. I want to be on the field. I feel like if I’m on the field, it’s an advantage for us. That’s how I look at myself. I look at myself as a key playmaker, so as long as I’m on the field, I feel like we’re in a good spot. There are other things that I have that I really want to keep to myself right now, but just main goals are having my routine and playing all games.”
(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)
