Caleb Campbell, Would-Be Lion, Marches on in Sports Switch That Sends Career Downhill
NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 10.21.2009/7:42AM
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Caleb Campbell, the West Point cadet drafted by the Lions in 2008, faced up uphill battle to make it in the NFL.
One year later, Campbell is going downhill in his bid for athletic success.
Campbell’s attempt to make the Lions was torpedoed by a change in regulations on the eve of training camp last year. It forced him to return to active duty.
He has converted to the bobsled – and the possibility of making the U.S. Olympic team.
In the best military tradition, we can assume that it’s a case of running it up the flag pole and see how it flies.
Campbell’s career change was detailed in a story that appeared in Wednesday’s New York Times.
According to the Times’ report, Campbell said he was contacted last year by assistant U.S. bobsled coach Bill Tavares about the possibility of competing in the bob sled.
In past years, former NFL players Herschel Walker and Willie Gault competed in the bobsled, where their strength and leg explosion were used to push the bob sled and get it moving downhill quickly.
Campbell told the Times that before Tavares had contacted him, his only exposure to the bobsled was from watching the movie “Cool Runnings.”
Some friends were surprised and skeptical, Campbell said, telling him they thought it was a joke when they heard about his bobsled training.
“Nobody really knows the correlation between football and bobsledding, and how much of a relationship there is until they understand sport of bobsled.”
The Lions drafted Campbell on the seventh round last year. He played safety for Army but was converted to linebacker by the Lions.
Campbell and the Lions – and West Point – got considerable publicity, most of it favorable.
Campbell graduated from West Point and was allowed to compete in pro football under academy regulations, which basically allowed cadets with special skills to retain their active-duty classification while pursuing careers in non-military fields.
Campbell participated in all of the Lions’ off-season workout programs and was set to report to training camp.
Meanwhile, there were rumbles that the other service academies did not like the favorable publicity that West Point was getting from Campbell’s tryout with the Lions, and pressure was being brought through military channels to force West Point to modify its rules.
Campbell was at the Lions’ headquarters’ facility in Allen Park when word came down that he had to report back immediately to West Point for assignment on active duty.
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