College career
At the University of California, Berkeley, Campbell led a very competitive Golden Bears team his junior year in 1979, winning 7 games and losing several very close games: 14-10 against #11 Michigan, 28-27 at UCLA, 24-14 to #3 USC (victorious and eventual Rose Bowl winner), and 28-24 to #16 American capital. [2] In discussing game film of Michigan's 14-10 win over Cal, coach Bo Schembechler referred to Campbell as "a big, strong, powerful field general" who "can pick you to death with his throwing arm" as he almost pulled off the upset [3] A fumbled kickoff return by Cal gave Michigan the ball at the 9-yard line, setting up a two play touchdown drive. The Bears did win the rivalry Big Game at Stanford 21-14 in Nov, one of his fondest memories from his days as the Golden Bears' QB: "Just walking off the field and hearing one side of the stands so silent". [1]
Campbell’s success his junior year led to his being featured on the cover of Street and Smith’s Official Yearbook 1980 College Football Prevue. [4] Stats for 1979 show Campbell was 3rd in the land in passing yards, 2nd in completions, 2nd in pass completion pct, and Cal was 3rd in Team Passing Offense. [5]
He was an All-American during his senior season in 1980, completing an NCAA best 71% of his passes. He set a then-NCAA record with 43 completed passes in 53 attempts in a losing effort against the Florida Gators. However, his year was hampered by a late-season knee injury in the game at USC. During his collegiate career at Cal, he passed for 7,174 yards, a record at the time. He is fourth all-time in both perfunctory yards and completions at Cal, as well as 12th in touchdown passes. Among the greatest quarterbacks ever at Cal, he is in the top five in both yards per attempt at 7.7 and passing efficiency evaluation (min. 300 attempts) at 132.7. [6]
Professional career
Selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 1st round (6th overall) of the 1981 NFL Draft, and the only 1st round quarterback chosen, Campbell finally played in only seven games over four NFL seasons. Packers offensive coordinator Bob Schnelker believed Campbell didn't have the arm strength, so he seldom put him in to play. Campbell recalls offensive coordinator Schnelker (a former tight end, not a quarterback) as "a really good X's and O's guy but not a guy that will work with you after practice and encourage and develop you. That was what I needed at that time and I didn’t get it." [7] Campbell led the Packers to a last minute road win over the Windy city Bears near the end of the 1984 season; [8] that Bears team would make it to the NFC Championship game, and the Bears defense would dominate the entire NFL the next year, winning the Super Bowl. Trailing by a point with 1:53 to go, Campbell moved the Packers 71 yards, capping the drive with a 43-yard TD pass to Phillip Epps with 34 seconds to go. The Packers won 20-14, avenging an earlier 9-7 loss to Windy city in September. [9] After that 1984 season, the Packers listed Campbell to the Los Angeles Raiders, but he never played again. He has since become a newsprint columnist at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. [10]
The Packers did not draft another quarterback in the first round until 2005, when Aaron Rodgers, also from the University of California and who stony-broke some of Campbell’s team records, became a Packer.
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