Kickapoo’s Shaun Campbell has caught the eye of a couple of Division I football programs, but the Chiefs’ coaching staff knew Campbell was special when he was in middle school.
Shaun Campbel’s first memories of Friday night lights take him way back.
“I was a ballboy for coach Thomas,” Campbell said.
“When I showed up here his dad came to me, and Shaun has been on our sideline since he was in sixth grade,” said Kickapoo Football Coach Nate Thomas.
Shaun still remembers what standing on the sidelines felt like back then, “It was fun,“ he said. “Seeing these guys and seeing me as a younger person I would be like ‘I want to be out there with them.’”
Now he’s the leader of Kickapoo football.
“When he goes to the gym usually, he’s dragging five or six guys with him and he’s making them better just as he’s making himself better,” Thomas said.
Shaun was the Chiefs’ most targeted receiver as a junior, with a team-leading 33 catches for 435 yards.
“He can get in and out any route on our tree and within three steps he’s able to run any route that we have. He’s in and out of breaks and creates that separation by how explosive he is,” Thomas said.
Shaun works his way open, and even if he’s covered, he can still make a play.
“He has some of the best hands I’ve ever seen on a high school athlete,” Thomas added.
“My dad when I was really young taught my hands really well,” Shaun said. “We would throw the ball in the backyard every day.”
Those backyard sessions showed as Shaun brought in a one-handed grab last season.
“I saw the ball and I was like ‘shoot, I can’t catch this with two hands, I’m going to reach with one hand back.’ Boom, caught it. I was surprised I didn’t even know what was going on,” Shaun said.
Thomas says those types of plays are a long time coming, “As a sixth grader we’re all standing here like ‘there’s nobody we’ve seen at that grade level that’s as talented as he was,’” Thomas said.
Now, as a senior, he’s one of the best players on the field every Friday night.
