Mailbag question: Will Campbell

Mailbag question: Will Campbell

Hello GBMW,

I'm not able to watch the practices or to attend the games, but I was wondering what is going on with Will Campbell's progress? I know he's a freshman and may not have been as advanced as Mike Martin was as a freshman. Is he progressing well and fast enough to be a contributor for next year? Was he overrated? Can you compare him with the other DT's currently on the team and possibly with Talbot coming in next year?

Thanks,

Harold E

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Thanks for the question.

In our opinion W. Campbell is showing significant progress. His strength and conditioning alone are light-years ahead of where he started. He appears willing to work toward continued improvement.

In the springtime GBMW talked about his technique and how he needed significant work. Since then many other sites have jumped on the same bandwagon.

The final success of Big Will is too early to call. A lot will depend on how well W. Campbell does this off-season. Spring practices will be very important for Will to work out the kinks in his fundamentals. This defense needs him to be "the guy" by earning meaningful playing time and becoming a force on the defense line.

Will this happen? Time will tell, but again Michigan badly needs Will to play and play well with the depth issues and defensive recruiting shortcomings of the last several years.

Overrated may not be the correct word to be used in Will Campbell’s development. Any athlete with W. Campbell’s combination of size and athletic ability is going to be highly rated. To GBMW the habits Will formed in high school showed up at spring practice, leaving the question we posed: how long will it take to correct the fundamentals and move to the next level? We believed the metamorphosis would take longer than UM expected.

In high school players like W. Campbell can get away with poor techniques and bad habits, along with not being in the best shape, because they are usually bigger than anybody else on the field and probably the best athlete on the field as well.

Big Will is unique; he has a rare combination of size and speed that few do. He is capable of playing all the defensive line positions, in our opinion no one else on the team is capable of such versatility.

From a skill standpoint, Talbott’s skills compare to W. Campbell, but he does not have the size of Big Will. Segasse has the size but not the skills. And so Big Will could be the big package.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine