Greenfield Recorder – UMass football finally has a complete running back room. What can Houston transfer Brandon Campbell bring to the Minutemen?

AMHERST – Damian Mincey has been a college football coach for 16 years, and never has a player arrived as late to training camp as UMass’ new recruit, running back Brandon Campbell.

Campbell, a graduate of the University of Houston, was still in summer school last week, finishing his degree. He flew to Bradley International Airport last Thursday afternoon, completed his physical on Friday and began training with the Minutemen this week, the final week of preseason training before their season opener against Eastern Michigan on Aug. 31.

“We’re just happy he’s here,” said Mincey, UMass’ running backs coach. “He brings a new dimension to the running back room and is another experienced Power Five player who has played a lot of football, has a great attitude and has a great head on his shoulders. We’re excited about what we have in him.”

Head coach Don Brown had been hinting at Campbell’s arrival for weeks, and UMass hopes he is the final piece of the puzzle for a running back room that lost 87% of its rushing yards last year. Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, who set a UMass FBS program record with 1,157 rushing yards in 2023, is transferring to Michigan State. Backup Greg Desrosiers transferred to Memphis.

In spring football, returning third-rounder Jalen John was the only UMass running back with career rushing yards, but last year he managed just 10 carries for 31 yards. Over the summer, the Minutemen signed sophomore transfer CJ Hester from Western Michigan, where he managed 29 carries for 124 yards in seven games last season.

Although Campbell only played a significant role in one of his three college football seasons, his 435 yards from the 2022 season at Houston easily make him UMass’ most experienced runner. None of the running backs on UMass’ roster have ever been full-time starters at any point in their college careers – John and Campbell each have three career starts.

Campbell is a 6-foot-3, 215-pound running back from Houston. His father, Kevin, played basketball at Virginia and his mother was a track and field athlete at the University of Texas-San Antonio. His uncle, Rogerick Green, was a defensive back in the NFL for three seasons.

He transferred four times between high schools in the greater Houston area and forwent his senior season because of COVID-19. A four-star recruit and one of the top-rated running backs in Texas, he had already committed to enroll early at USC. He chose the Trojans despite offers from Alabama, Texas, Ohio State and others.

Campbell was not a player in his freshman year at USC, Lincoln Riley’s first in Los Angeles, and then transferred to Houston for the 2022 season.

In his freshman year at his hometown school, Campbell appeared in 10 games for a crowded running back room with four backs who combined for between 359 and 544 rushing yards. Campbell ran the ball 90 times for 435 yards and four rushing TDs. He underwent shoulder surgery immediately after the season and missed spring football.

In his second year with the Cougars, Campbell appeared in just five games and had 18 carries for 46 yards. He left the program with four games left on the Cougars’ schedule.

He’s only been in Amherst for a few days and UMass coaches are trying to get him up to speed as quickly as possible.

“Inside zone is inside zone, it just depends on how he’s taught. Counter is counter, it just depends on how he’s taught,” Mincey said. “He understands the scheme and knows how to run the different plays. The most important thing is that he learns the signals and picks up what we call things and just gets in running shape. As much as you run at home on your own, it’s never the same as when you’re here with the team.”

Mincey said Campbell has been coming in early and staying after practice to do extra work. He’s been doing all the reps with the offense in practice. And when he’s not on the field, strength and conditioning coaches have been working with him to “get his breath back.”

UMass has not yet released a roster for the season opener, and it remains to be seen how often Campbell will play initially. But coaches and teammates have been waiting all spring and summer for his arrival. Now he’s finally here.