Callen Campbell is ready to take the leap from the UP to NU
Four years on varsity as a two-way starter in a town with Canada on the horizon. Countless hours in a gym in the garage that also serves as a mecca for any area players with dreams of elevating their game. And, last but not least, the right phone call at the right time.
That's how Callen Campbell, a three-star defensive end signee in the Class of 2024, got from Sault Ste. Marie, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to Northwestern.
It wasn't easy. Just ask Gordi Campbell, Callen's father and defensive coordinator, and Brendin Cryderman, his defensive line coach, at Sault Area High School. They know how difficult it is for a player to get from the UP to the Big Ten.
"It's just a fact: people don't come up here," said Gordi, a UP football legend after an eight-year career with the semi-pro Sault Steelers and decades of coaching in Sault Ste. Marie. "To be honest with you, I don't blame them. It's a long ways, and there's not a lot of [prospects].
"You have to really do quite a bit to get on the radar... The biggest thing we talked about when [Callen] was younger was, I don't want to use the word longshot, but we worked on controlling the things we can control."
In a recruiting world filled with NIL valuations, elaborate graphics and social media, the Campbells and Cryderman made their Northwestern connection the old-fashioned way: they picked up the phone.
"Nobody comes up here," Cryderman said. "Myself, [Gordi] Campbell and even Callen, we all recruited a lot for him.
"With Northwestern, I called [defensive recruiting director Bryan] Payton at the recruiting office. They were the only Big Ten program to have their recruiting office phone number on their website. He answered the phone and it blossomed from there."
The rest, as they say, is history.
Defensive line coach Christian Smith made the 500-mile trip to Sault Ste Marie in the spring to see Callen practice in person. A visit was scheduled in May, and Callen committed to the Wildcats on the visit.
By the time Callen signed with the Wildcats on Dec. 20, he was the second-longest tenured member of the Class of 2024. He stuck by Smith, and now-head coach David Braun through the turmoil of the summer, when seven members of his class decided to decommit.
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"They were the ones who took a chance on me," Callen said. "After I picked up my Northwestern offer, a lot of other Big Ten schools came calling, but I was pretty locked in on the fact they believed in me so I was going to believe in them...
"Through the uncertainty of the summer there has been no doubt. There have been opportunities to do other things, but I wasn't interested in that because I believed in Coach Braun and Coach Smith."
Campbell never publicly posted interest or offers from other schools after committing to Northwestern, but there were Big Ten suitors. Minnesota and Iowa were two schools with interest, and Michigan State made a late push with an offer from new coach Johnathan Smith right before Signing Day.
Braun and Smith visited one more time on Dec. 4, and Campbell signed his NLI with the Wildcats two weeks later.
"I was completely locked in to them and they were completely locked in to me," Cambell said. "They were regularly checking up on me, and then once Coach Braun got promoted it was a great feeling to know I stuck with them for a reason and it panned out."
Callen will be an early enrollee for Northwestern and will start classes in less than a week. Smith and Braun, who both played defensive line themselves in college, told the Campbells they expect Callen to start on the edge as a four/five technique and with the possibility to transition towards the interior as he continues to grow.
Listed in the Rivals system at 245 pounds, Campbell said he's up to 260 as he prepares for Big Ten football. Since the end of his season, he has continued to add weight and muscle mass rather than shedding pounds for wrestling, like he did last year.
Gordi, who was an All-American wrestler at NAIA Montana State Northern before his career in the Northern Football Conference, said that he worked to give Callen the strength to hold his own at the next level.
"One of the biggest things that I've learned firsthand was the degree and level of strength that's required to compete at that level, not only the field, but within your own team," Gordi said. "It takes a long time to develop strength. It just takes time, and in that window, you don't always have that.
"So that was always important to us, that he developed that and had at least a solid foundation so he can start learning the college game and college speed... That was one of the things we could control from where we sit on the map."
Enter the gym in the garage.
Gordi is an Olympic-certified trainer and set up the gym not just for Callen, but for any athletes in Sault Ste. Marie (pop. 13,414) and the surrounding area looking to take their game to the next level.
"Every college football player in Sault Ste. Marie since 2011 has been trained out of that garage," Cryderman said.
"We had to do it," Gordi said. "It goes back to making sure there was no doubt and we crossed everything off...
"Since Callen has been a little kid, he's been around the kids that wanted to train. He's always aspired to the kids who were looking to do the same thing he just did. That's the environment he grew up in."
Callen took advantage of the facilities early and often, winning two powerlifting state titles in his high school career. In 2022, he won the JV 242-pound title with a 465-pound squat, 255-pound bench and 540-pound deadlift. For those keeping track at home, that's a total of 1,260 pounds.
Gordi said Callen's ethic was apparent from the start.
"I knew what he could do but, being his dad, it can't come from me," Gordi said. "I told him that from a young age, 'I know what you're about and I know what you're capable of but I'm not the one you have to sell it to. You have to sell everybody else's parents and the other coaches.'
"He easily did that. He's been a two-way starter for us in high school since his first day."
Callen's faith in himself has been strong since the start of his career.
"I always knew that I had what it took [to play at the next level]," he said. "It was always, 'Say when and where, and let me prove myself.'"
Callen made an impact as a tight end and defensive end early in his career at Sault Area. As his mobility and strength increased, he moved over to quarterback on the offensive side of the ball.
It was a transition that struck fear into many defenders across the Big North Conference and it's something that helped his own pass rushes.
"It makes it a lot easier having played quarterback," he said. "I know the feeling of being sacked and the feeling of pressure, so I can use that to my advantage.
"I know how quarterbacks think, and obviously, there's a serious level of discrepancy [from high school to college], but in general terms it's about knowing where my blind spot would be and using that as an advantage."
Callen said that versatility is something that helped separate his film from that of other prospects when coaches looked at it.
"I think, overall, my play stands out and I can translate my pass rushing and ability to [shed blocks]," he said. "But it's kind of hard to pick out on film sometimes with who you're playing against.
"What really makes me stand out, I think, is on my film, that I was playing quarterback. You don't see that a whole lot of 6-foot-4, 250-pound quarterbacks," he added with a laugh.
Cryderman said the way Campbell has taken on the workload of being the team's two-way star for four straight seasons has been truly impressive.
"There's nobody that moves like Callen," he said. "We put him at quarterback, man!"
Cryderman talked about how Sault Area's aggressive scheduling, and opponents' focus on avoiding Callen, has helped prepare him for the next level.
"We want him to take that next step and play better guys," he said. "As a freshman, game No. 2, they started running away from him, and they've done it for four years.
"His stats, as good as they are now, that's with 90% of the plays going the other way. It's insane. If teams would take him on, we couldn't tell you what his stats would be. He had 11 sacks this year, and it was [against] everything they could throw at him."
Cryderman referenced Callen's strip sack vs. Escanaba this season as an example of how he's excelled through adversity and scouting as a senior. He beat his first blocker, then the running back in support, and then enveloped the quarterback as he tried to roll right.
Cryderman highlighted Callen's patience as team's locked in on him, even when he was a 14- or 15-year-old underclassman.
"It is [frustrating]," he said. "At his core, Callen is a leader. He knows what's best for the team, and I think part of that comes from his dad being a coach for so many years and our system being a team-oriented defense.
"No one guy is making all the plays, making all the tackles... Every step of the way he's seen that, and team-oriented defense is what Callen knows."
The process of preparing Callen has taken a village. He won't be taking it, or the coaches who have believed in him, for granted.
"Being from the Upper Peninsula, there's like 250,000 people up here," Callen said. "There's only a handful of people that have ever played college football [from here], let alone at the Big Ten or Power Five level...
"People figure because no one else is looking here, we're not going to bother, and a lot of kids get seriously overlooked and have to settle for smaller programs. I think that adds to what I love so much about Coach Smith and Coach Braun. They were willing to seriously evaluate me and believe in what I was about and give me the opportunity."
Callen did what it took on the field and in the garage to get a chance to play in the Big Ten. Now it's time for him to UP football on the map.