Campbell fulfilling his dream week in and week out

Will Campbell, the former four star tackle, has been one of the foundation pieces for this LSU team. After starting at left tackle as a true freshman, Campbell has quickly become one of the best offensive lineman in the entire nation halfway through his sophomore season.

The Monroe native grew up about 3.5 hours north of Baton Rouge and his dream has always been to play for the LSU Tigers. Thanks to his hard work and his family and friends support, Campbell was able to fulfill his dream, and now every Saturday, they get to see him lace up his cleats in Tiger Stadium.

"It means the world to me that I have such a supportive family and such a supportive friend group and a supportive city in Monroe. It's not just my family at the tailgates, it's my friends that just want to come watch, so it means a lot to have such a great support system."

Will Campbell

When you think of LSU, one of the first things that comes to mind is all the defensive backs and wide receivers they put into the NFL. The Tigers have never been known as an 'offensive line' school, but Will Campbell is trying to be a trailblazer for the next generation of LSU offensive lineman.

After he and Emery Jones started as freshman, it seems LSU is becoming a destination for some of the elite offensive lineman in the country. We've saw top guys like Zalance Heard and DJ Chester come in this year, and Campbell said he's already seeing some special stuff from the freshman O-lineman.

"Not just for Lance Heard, but all the freshman in general, they're all growing so much everyday. Coach Davis is such a good coach and he's helping them progress in the meetings, on the field, on the practice field and you can see it day-by-day."

Will Campbell

Will Campbell and Zalance Heard played left and right tackle together for Neville High School just two years ago. The duo were one grade apart, but they built a close bond throughout their high school years.

Now, just two years later, the two got to share the field for nearly the entire game against Auburn after Emery Jones went down with an ankle injury. Campbell talked about what it meant to not only him, but their former high school.

"It's pretty awesome. We played together in high school, so being back on the field together is special. It kind of, I guess takes us back to the old days even though we're not that old. It was cool and it's a special moment and it was special for Neville [High School] just to have two guys out there playing for LSU, the home state school, so it's pretty cool...Our families are right there by each others and everybody from Monroe either has on a Campbell jersey or a Heard jersey from Neville."

Will Campbell

The highest honor an offensive line can get as a unit is the Joe Moore award. It's given out every year to the best offensive line in the country, and the Tigers unit just got named to the midseason watchlist.

While it may seem like a big deal, Campbell says they're not focusing on it too much. They don't want to just be a nominee along with 24 other schools, they want to be the one and only school to take home the award at the end of the year.

"Honestly to me it's just a twitter post. There's 25 teams right now that have that, and we want to be the one at the end, so that's the only thing that matters. We have to beat Army this week and keep winning games, but like I said, we don't want to be on the honor roll, we want to win it."

Will Campbell

When LSU announced they were starting Will Campbell at left tackle last year, it was a bit of a shock to a lot of people. A freshman starting at left tackle in the SEC is unheard of, but Campbell quickly showed he belonged.

The offensive line was much better than expected last year, but this year, they are the strength of this team. They've all turned it up to another level and have been playing like one of the premier groups in all of football. Whether it's in the run or pass game, they've been physical, and that's where Campbell thinks they've made their biggest improvement from last season.

"Physicality. That's what we pride ourselves on. I feel like that's where we made our biggest stride from last year. We're able to consistently run the ball no matter what they throw at us or who it is, so we take pride in that. Whenever we're jumping around out there after [Logan] Diggs, Kaleb [Jackson] or Josh [Williams] breaks off a big run, it fires us up because we work hard to make the run game pop."

Will Campbell

Two weeks ago against Missouri, Campbell was flagged for a personal foul for blocking one of Missouri's defenders out of bounds. We asked Campbell about the penalty that seemed straight out of the movie "The Blindside," and he gave us some insight into what was going through his head.

"I was just blocking til the whistle. Unfortunately, Paul Turner got ran over too. I saw it and I knew where I was, but I genuinely did not know you couldn't block people out of bounds because I did it in high school, so I did not know you couldn't do that. I got a good yelling at, but it was fine after that."

Will Campbell

Campbell is a monster at left tackle for LSU, and if he was eligible, he'd probably be a first round pick in this years NFL draft. Luckily for Tiger fans, Campbell will have to stick around for at least one more season. He's an anchor at the left tackle spot, and he's seemingly become one of the reasons LSU is becoming a popular destination for offensive lineman.