Many of us can remember where we thought our careers would end up following our education. Some took the mainstream route; go to a four year college and wait for a job opportunity upon graduation. Others may have dropped out of high school or college and felt naively confident towards their future. Both routes may have lead people to success and/or failure, but no one can touch Tommie Campbell’s path of both failure and success.
At one point in his life the NFL seemed more like a reality rather than a dream. At another point in the 2011 Tennessee Titan’s 7th round draft pick’s life, the 6’3”, 210 pound man who ran a 4.33 second 40-yard dash was scrubbing toilets as a janitor in an airport in Pittsburgh. And now he has a chance to start for the Titans in 2013.
Coming out of Aliquippa High School in Pennsylvania as the 2005 Pennsylvania state high school sprint track champion and a football teammate of future NFL star Darrelle Revis, Campbell committed to joining the University of Pittsburgh as a defensive back.
After appearing in all 11 games his true freshman year as a back up safety, Campbell thought he had earned the right to start at safety in his sophomore season. The Pitt coaching staff had other intentions, however. They decided to move Tommie to starting linebacker to help increase their speed of the front seven.
With frustration stemming from his change in position and his lack of focus on academics, Campbell eventually transferred to Edinboro University. Another year of struggling in the classroom lead to him getting kicked off the team.
Subsequently Campbell’s football career seemed to be yet another member of the NFL’s never ending list of ‘What Could Have Been.’ During his time working in the airport in Pittsburgh, Tommie Campbell smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and weighed only 185 pounds, according to an interview he did with CBS Sports.
While feeling the humbling experience of working as a janitor, Tommie Campbell was offered a try out with a CFL team. Although he did not make the team, Campbell realized he needed to get back in shape and quit his smoking habit.
“I was at the YMCA, and I was just jogging around the track and threw up all over the place. I didn’t think I had it. It took me two days to just decide to do the workout,” Campbell said in an interview with CBS Sports.
His third opportunity at fulfilling his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL came when he received an offer to play Division II football for the California University of Pennsylvania. This third chance forever changed Tommie’s life just when he thought he had hit rock bottom. “Football was over. I can’t say people gave up on me because I gave up on myself. I didn’t even watch football,” said Tommie in an interview with CBS Sports.
He made the most of his chance to play for the Vulcans of California University of Pennsylvania, earning a trip to the Cactus Bowl, the Division II All Star Game. This is where he ran the sub 4.4 forty time, outperforming more than 300 of his peers. His lean, strong and long frame mixed with his speed and quickness raised the eyebrows of some NFL scouts when he declared for the NFL draft in 2011.
In his first two NFL seasons he has contributed mostly on special teams by making hard hits and returning kicks and punts. He has scored two touchdowns in his career: one trick play kick return against Tampa Bay his rookie season seen below and a very similar kick return against Detroit.
Flash forward to training camp in 2013 and Campbell has the potential to start under Jerry Gray’s defense that ranked 7th in the NFL in interceptions one year ago. The Titan’s aggressive defense needs physical, in-your-face corners that can be trusted in single coverage. This can play right into Campbell’s hands, with his tall frame and quickness.
“Anytime I hear single (coverage), I have a switch and it just turns on. It’s like Christmas to me,” Campbell said in an interview with CBS Sports. Another part of his motivation to start week one is that the Titans will be starting the season in Pittsburgh, Campbell’s hometown.
What better way to show your friends, family and the world your story of redemption than to take the field in your hometown as a starter in the NFL only five years removed from working as a janitor? “A lot of people don’t bounce back from what I’ve come through…I guess it is pretty amazing,” Campbell said in an interview with CBS Sports.
Do you remember what you were doing five years ago? Were you taking the right steps to guarantee a successful future for you and your future family? Or did you, like Campbell, fall along harder times? If so, listen to the story of Tommie Campbell again and maybe you will feel inspired to take a different approach to your life. After all, as Albert Einstein once said “Problems can not be solved with the same minds that created them.”
