Facing the prospect of being elbowed aside by celebrity and stagnated by stardom, Tyler Campbell knew the day would come when he would run away from home. While it wouldn't be forever, it would arguably be for the best.
“I wanted to see how I would do on my own,” Campbell said. “I needed to get away from my father's name, and that's no disrespect to him. But I wanted to be my own man. I had opportunities to go to school close to home, but I wanted to go somewhere where I could shake someone's hand and say, 'My name's Tyler Campbell,' and not be asked if I was related to Earl.”
The son of NFL Hall of Famer Earl Campbell and a senior running back at San Diego State, Tyler Campbell understood the inevitable comparisons, as well as the accompanying critiques, would forever nip at his heels in the family's native Texas.
“I wanted to play basketball, and my dad wanted me to stick with basketball because he didn't want me to put up with the criticism,” said Tyler, who was dealt the additional burden of being named after his father's hometown in East Texas.
“My father never stressed football. When I told him in seventh grade that I wanted to play, and he agreed, it made it really easy for me to come out of the shadows, and I'm thankful to him for that. ”
As a senior at Westlake High in Austin, Campbell had an interest in SDSU and was sold on the school by former Aztecs quarterback Adam Hall, a Westlake alum.
Campbell received a scholarship offer from SDSU, but the scholarship later was awarded to another player, leaving Campbell to do some last-minute scrambling. He ended up at Pasadena City College, where a shoulder injury limited him to two games before his transfer to SDSU in 2005.
Beset by nagging injuries the past two seasons (Campbell redshirted in '05), he has carried the ball just 13 times for 13 yards. Yet his fortitude and leadership qualities, characteristics greatly admired by coach Chuck Long, are likely to culminate in a captaincy this fall. Recognized as a scholar-athlete by SDSU, Campbell has already earned a bachelor's degree in business and is working on his master's in public administration.
“Fortunately, for the three years I've been here, I've always been surrounded by players with great leadership skills,” he said. “Now it's my turn to apply those same skills. It's come time for me to grow up.”
And perhaps consider going home. Campbell said that since the age of 6 he's been telling his father he would one day take over the family business. Earl Campbell, who resides in Austin, owns a meat company called Earl Campbell Foods.
“I've seen how hard he's worked getting the company established and I've always admired that,” Tyler Campbell said. “He's tired. He wants me to come back and he'd like me to come back immediately.
“But I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to be getting my master's, and it all goes back to my father saying that once you start something you don't quit. I know that if football isn't in my future that the world isn't going to end for me.”
Extra point
With junior
Avery Williams undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and sophomore
Ernie Lawson dealing with a high ankle sprain, the Aztecs are thin across the defensive front. One player who could provide immediate help is junior transfer
Darius Jones, a 6-foot-4, 355-pound native of Gainesville, Fla., who played at Butte College in Oroville last year. Jones, who has been a spectator since the opening of camp, has yet to be cleared academically. Long said Jones' situation could be resolved this week.
Mick McGrane: (619) 293-1850; mick.mcgrane@uniontrib.com
