Gophers' Campbell not backing down from TCU, Ohio State comments
MINNEAPOLIS -- Gophers linebacker De'Vondre Campbell made a pair of statements last season that turned some heads.
For starters, he said TCU -- Minnesota's early nonconference opponent -- was "a lot better" than an Ohio State team that eventually went on to win the national championship. Campbell also declared that the Gophers would face the Buckeyes again three weeks after their mid-November matchup, alluding to the Big Ten championship game.
The latter didn't happen as Minnesota fell one win short of playing for the conference crown. The former is debatable, too, as the Buckeyes looked the part of a dominant national champion as they rolled past Oregon in the title game.
Several months after his controversial comments, Campbell and his Gophers teammates are preparing for the 2015 season -- which just so happens to begin against that same TCU team. When asked Thursday about his previous comments, Campbell doubled down.
"I'm not taking anything away from Ohio State. Great team. Once again, congratulations to them on winning the national championship," Campbell said. "But overall, I just feel like TCU had a better overall team and it really consisted of the players. I feel like their defense complemented their offense. I don't know. It's just what I think from playing against both teams, honestly."
Campbell and the Gophers will have an opportunity to face both teams again in 2015. TCU comes to Minneapolis on Sept. 3 to kick off the season, and Minnesota travels to Columbus for a meeting with the national champions on Nov. 7.
With another go-around with both teams, Campbell might have another chance to proclaim which school is better. When he did last year, he admits he took some heat for it.
"People gave me a hard time, but I really didn't care," Campbell said. "I've always been the type to just speak my mind and give my opinion. It's not like what I'm saying is true or false. It's just how I feel about the situation."
That confidence hasn't necessarily always been there for Campbell since the 6-foot-5, 240-pound linebacker transferred to Minnesota from Hutchinson Community College. The Fort Myers, Fla., native was a contributor on defense as a sophomore in 2013 but started just three games as he adjusted to Division I football.
As Campbell's play on the field took a step forward in 2014 -- he started all 13 games and was third on the team with 75 tackles -- so, too, did his confidence. That was evident in his postgame comments after Minnesota's loss to Ohio State, but it also showed on the field.
"He's a lot more confident now than he was because he's a lot better player right now than he was last fall," Gophers head coach Jerry Kill said of Campbell. "I think he's much more confident right now in himself and what he's doing, and we're more confident in him because he's gotten a lot better."
As Campbell now enters his redshirt senior season, he's learning how to channel some of that confidence into being a leader on and off the field. The Gophers graduated leading tackler Damien Wilson from last year's team, and Campbell ranks among Minnesota's most experienced linebackers returning to the team in 2015.
Though the Gophers have some young talent at linebacker, Minnesota is looking for depth in that area. Campbell hopes he can help cultivate that depth.
"I think we've made some pretty good strides since the start of spring ball," Campbell said of the linebackers. "We have a lot of young guys, a lot of guys who don't have game experience. So I kind of feel like I've been taking it upon myself to coach them up as much as possible, because a lot of the guys that didn't play last year are going to have to play a lot this year."
Those young linebackers might have to play against TCU in the first game of the season. A year ago, Minnesota opened its nonconference season against Eastern Illinois and Middle Tennessee State before finally getting a crack at the Horned Frogs.
In 2015, Campbell won't have to wait to get a rematch with the team he felt was the best Minnesota faced last season.
"It's a big-time game, so I feel like coming into it, we can't really approach it as we would if we were playing a team like Eastern Illinois," Campbell said. "It's a whole different level of an opponent. It's a big-time team, and I'm pretty sure coming into next year they're going to be ranked in the top five, maybe two or three -- maybe even one. It's a great team, and we can't approach it like it's an average team."
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