Allen Park — Of all the prospects Detroit Lions linebacker coach Kelvin Sheppard talked to and met before this year’s draft, three stood out.
One, Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr., came off the board before the Lions even had a shot. The Houston Texans traded up nine spots to No. 3, making him the first defensive player off the board.
Another, Nolan Smith, lingered until the end of the first round. He went No. 30 to the Eagles, a few spots before the Lions took tight end Sam LaPorta early in Round 2. And if we’re being realistic about Smith, the 6-foot-2, 238-pound edge rusher probably wasn’t an ideal schematic fit for Detroit.
The third player who captured Sheppard’s attention was Iowa’s Jack Campbell, who the team boldly selected No. 18 overall, two rounds and nearly 40 picks before the next off-ball linebacker.
The night the team drafted Campbell, Sheppard described how members of the coaching staff had exchanged glances following a formal interview with the linebacker and agreed it would be tough for another prospect to top that meeting.
In a sit-down interview last week with The Detroit News, Sheppard elaborated on what set Campbell apart.
“These days, many of these kids don’t even watch football outside of their own stuff,” Sheppard said. “So I would say to be on the level (of understanding) he was on is very rare. It was the intensity. His leg was shaking while he was answering questions. He was sitting on the edge of his seat.
“And watching him conceptualize things,” Sheppard continued. “Look, multiple linebackers that I talked to could tell you what the Will linebacker does on a play, but to see Jack conceptualize and think it through — ‘OK, with that motion the safety is about to spin, they’re going to layers here, Coach’ — then, when stopping the tape, asking him ‘Why do you think this happens?’ And him being able to answer it, and his tone, his confidence with those answers.”
Watching Lions defensive tape in that meeting for the first time, Sheppard said Campbell was so advanced he would have been one of the top processors in the team’s linebacking room last year.
“That’s where this kid is at with the cerebral piece of it,” Sheppard said.
Since the draft, Campbell has dove head first into that film. Not because he was asked, because the coaching staff can’t technically do that, but because it was important to him. And the rookie has been blowing up his position coach’s phone with questions seemingly every hour, not just about the play designs, but wanting to know the philosophical reasoning behind the calls in particular situations.
“For me, it’s all about just getting a base and a foundation for understanding the defense,” Campbell said. “I’m still a long ways away from where I need to be. That’s just honesty. I’m just going to keep learning, keep working. Obviously the vets aren’t out here yet, but when they come in, watch how they operate, watch how they carry themselves, try to take bits and pieces from each of them that I think can help me. But if you can’t do it on the mental side as a Mike linebacker, you’re probably not going to live up any dreams and aspirations that you set for yourself individually.”
Campbell is a coach’s dream. He embodies the eat-sleep-dream football mentality. LaPorta, his college roommate at Iowa, joked Campbell’s room was a bit messy. The linebacker didn’t disagree, but said it was because he didn’t have time to worry about something so trivial during the season.
Clearly taking a few minutes to put away clutter only distracted him from thinking about football.
As a player at Iowa, Campbell’s numbers jump off the page. It starts with his frame. He’s unusually large for the position, standing 6-foot-5, 249 pounds. Then there’s the 265 tackles, four interceptions and two forced fumbles he racked up the past two years. And finally, there’s the chart-busting athleticism he displayed at the scouting combine, showcasing elite explosion, burst and change-of-direction that are critical to the position.
Still, when Sheppard threw on the college tape, that athleticism often was hidden by the way Iowa used Campbell. Mind you, it’s tough to argue with the results. The Hawkeyes were one of the best defenses in the country last season, allowing just 13.3 points per game. They didn’t need to do anything different.
“I told him, ‘I see your movement skills are better than what I see on tape,'” Sheppard said. “Then you ask him what were you doing at Iowa. He was doing what he was asked to do. They weren’t really unlocking his full potential as an athlete at college, because he’ll tell you, at Iowa, we play a tough brand of football focused on stopping the run. We’re hard-nosed, downhill, shock people.
“So they don’t, the phrase I like to use, get spicy, where you’d see him doing exotic blitzes and showing off some of that athleticism,” Sheppard said. “Learning that, seeing it, I think there’s a lot of untapped potential in this kid.”
Campbell has zero complaints about how Iowa used him. He almost sounds offended by the question, which is understandable because of the results, both on the field and the fact he got drafted in the first round. He’s not clamoring to do different things in Detroit, only to do what he’s asked. If that’s blitzing more — and it probably will be based on what Sheppard is saying — Campbell just wants to perfect the skills needed to be successful in that role. The same with playing more man coverage, which he said he anticipates doing more in Detroit than he did at Iowa.
Obviously, being drafted where he was, there are lofty expectations for Campbell. But he’s not being guaranteed anything, nor does he want or expect that. The Lions have proven under current leadership, at every position, including linebacker, the best players will play. Look no further than Malcolm Rodriguez last year, when he earned a starting job out of training camp as a sixth-round draft pick.
Sheppard intends to treat Campbell like any other player in his room, building the rookie’s knowledge of the scheme and his role within it from the ground up. But the player’s eager pursuit of that knowledge is sure to make the process smoother.
And if Campbell is able to apply that gained knowledge on the practice field at the same rate he’s building his mental understanding, it won’t be long before he finds himself playing significant snaps on Detroit’s defense.
“Obviously, I have to earn everything I get,” Campbell said. “Pick one through, what is it, 260? Once you get into the building you’re all the same. That’s my approach right now. The physical talent is pretty much even across the board and the mental side, that’s how you can set yourself apart.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers