Tommy Campbell decided on his goal and then chased it, even if it seemed sometimes like hardly anyone was watching.
The lanky, athletic and driven senior at Columbus High in South Central Montana heard stories of what it took to win a state championship from his head coach. Blake Hoge played on a Frenchtown team that won a Class A state title.
Campbell, who has never been one to seek the spotlight, remembers canceling plans with friends the summers before his junior and senior years, instead heading to the weight room. He wanted to chase a championship.
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“Coach Hoge told me one of the reasons they won a state championship at Frenchtown was they had college players and so all the other kids had that motivation and belief they could do it,” Campbell said. “I wanted to change the program at Columbus. I wanted to be the one who got out and really inspired the future.”
Although the Cougars did not win the Class B state title last fall — Campbell helped Columbus win five of six games at the end of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs, then a first-round win before falling to eventual state champion Lincoln County (Eureka) in the second round — Campbell’s hard work did not go unnoticed.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound three-sport athlete earned Division I interest the old-fashioned way: by grinding and competing. Campbell did not want to use many of the modern tools available to today’s football prospects to get recruited. So he did it his way.
“Social media has never really been my thing,” Campbell said. “I just try to do what I can do in the shadows hoping someone would notice.”
From the shadows, Campbell emerged as one of the most intriguing prospects in Montana State’s 2020 signing class. In a day and age where Twitter feeds are littered with prospects spouting off about their various scholarship offers, Campbell does not have Twitter. Hardly any football fan in the state of Montana knew he was getting serious interest from the Bobcats, the Grizzlies or any other college program simply because it wasn’t plastered all over social media.
In a time when almost every recruit has a Hudl film (Campbell does, too), the son of an underground miner wanted to earn his chance through personal connections and athletic performance. He did, securing a shot to join Montana State on a partial scholarship. He signed with MSU on December 18.
“Both my sisters are getting degrees at the University of Montana and my original plan was to go there but the city of Bozeman, the Montana State coaches, the facilities, the educational opportunities are all amazing at MSU,” Campbell said. “I thought it would be the best fit for my future.”
The under the radar prospect first earned attention from the MSU coaching staff during track season the spring of his junior year. His standout times in the sprints during a particularly competitive year in the Class B ranks helped earn him an invite to MSU’s individual camp last July. In Bozeman, he proved himself again.
“He did a great job getting his name out there through track,” MSU director of high school relations and special teams coordinator B.J. Robertson, Campbell’s primary recruiter, said when Campbell signed on December 18. “He came to our summer camp late. He came to our last camp. But sometimes, you save the best for last.”
Campbell ran 11.29 seconds in the 100 meters at the Stillwater Al Walker Memorial meet, the best time of his junior year last spring and the fourth-fastest in Class B last season. He placed seventh in the 100 meters at the Class B state meet, an impressive feat for an athlete who projects as a defensive end or tight end for Montana State.
He proved his natural speed was no fluke during MSU’s individual camp later that summer.
“We do what we call Smokehouse (to determine) the camp’s fastest guy, and he ended up being that guy,” Choate said with a smile on December 18. “He’s a long, athletic guy who really, really runs well and is just now starting to scratch the surface of what he’s going to be as a football player.”
Campbell was a Southern B second-team all-conference selection as a junior. He did not receive post-season accolades as a senior due to missing a few games with injury. Yet Choate is interested in his upside, particularly because he’s seen Campbell run.
“He can play tight end, he could be a field end for us or a Buck (end),” Choate said. “He has really good twitch and is an excellent pass rusher.”
Campbell knew he turned some heads by winning the Smokehouse, an impactful competition that has helped several other small-school Montana prospects earn elevated recruiting interest, including MSU sophomore running back Lane Sumner, who hails from Huntley Project.
“I don’t think anyone expected the 6-foot-4 kid at the linebacker position beating all these wide receivers and running backs,” Campbell said with a chuckle. “I think it was really a shock and I think that’s what really helped me in the recruiting process.”
Campbell isn’t like most of his peers when it comes to promoting himself on Twitter and other social media outlets. He’s appreciative for the influences he had growing up and the help Hoge gave him in the recruiting process.
He calls Hoge “the most influential, supportive coach”, a teacher who sent Campbell’s highlight tape to schools across the country to help him “achieve my dream of college football.”
Tommy’s father, Tony Campbell, has worked at the Stillwater mine in Nye, Montana about half an hour from Columbus for years. The tough-minded attitude Tony instilled in Tommy also served as fuel to earn this new opportunity.
“My dad is No. 1 and my head coach is No. 2 in influencing my life,” said Campbell. “My dad played college football, middle linebacker, was always athletic and had good genes. Ever since I was little, I’ve looked up to him and when I grew up, I knew I wanted to be just like him. I worked my butt off because I wanted to be just like him.”
Tommy’s mother Cristy Goldsmith works at a law firm.
Tony Campbell played middle linebacker at Montana Western around the same time that Choate was playing linebacker for the Bulldogs, although Montana State’s head coach had his career end abruptly due to serious injuries suffered in an accident.
Football prospects to come out of Columbus have been few and far between over the years, although former Cougars defensive tackle Dwan Edwards is one of the most successful prospects to come out of the state of Montana, period. Edwards played in the NFL for 11 years, including for the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
Campbell remembers attending a few camps hosted by Edwards as a kid. Now he heads to MSU with a tentative plan to study some sort of science like anatomy, physiology or pre-medicine. In December, Campbell signed a piece of paper that turned his hard work into an opportunity.
“It was emotional for sure because the stereotypical I put my blood, sweat and tears into it, all of it is true,” Campbell said. “You sweat and you bleed every day because you are putting in that grind. Sometimes, it doesn’t go your way and that’s when the tears come into play.
“But no matter what, you have to keep moving forward and I think signing that letter was the affirmation that what I’m doing right now is right. I’m doing the right things.”
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Photos courtesy of Campbell. All Rights Reserved.
