Big Board ranking: #45
Positional ranking: #1
Overview
Position: LB
College: Iowa
Class: Senior
Age: 22
Measurables
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 249 lbs.
Arm length: 31 7/8”
Hand size: 10 1/4″
Athletic testing
40-yard dash: 4.65 sec.
10-yard split: 1.59 sec.
Vertical jump: 37.5”
Broad jump: 128.0”
Bench press: N/A
3-cone drill: 6.74 sec.
Short shuttle: 4.24 sec.
Strengths
Prototype overall size. Above-average speed. High football intelligence. Tremendous instincts and toughness. Run fits are excellent when he can see it and attack. Very secure making tackles in the hole when working downhill. Fast and aggressive with a path to the ball-carrier. Sticks his nose in and square up opponents. Extremely reliable wrap-up tackler in general. Drives opponents to the ground. Physical taking on blockers. Uses his hands to shed blocks. Great at cleaning things up from the second level. Tremendous pursuit and hustle. Routinely delivers a shoulder charge to help on gang tackles. Fast getting into the backfield as a blitzer. Ball magnet with plus ball skills in coverage. Zone drops are extremely smooth. Reads the quarterback’s eyes and positions himself to make a play. Excellent in underneath man coverage. Physical early in the route. High awareness and play recognition in coverage. Showed marked improvement from 2021 to 2022.
Weaknesses
Movements don’t always match the athleticism and can seem labored. Inconsistent play recognition versus the run and will flow out of position. Angles to the ball can be improved defending off-tackle runs. Slower reactionary quickness will lead to some missed tackles. Sometimes too focused on the running back versus zone reads.
NFL comparison
Germaine Pratt
Conclusion
Overall, Campbell is an instinctive middle linebacker with tremendous size, toughness, and coverage ability. He has a strong case to be the first linebacker selected if teams are looking for more of a throwback option at the position.