Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots wasted no time throwing Will Campbell to the wolves this summer. The first-round draft pick, who is set to become a rookie starter at left tackle, was given regular individual and team reps against the team’s most disruptive edge defender, Keion White, from the get-go.
The duels between the two have been an entertaining affair, and a highly competitive one. They also have been a learning experience for Campbell, and White has been making sure of that.
“Trial by fire,” he explained earlier this week. “The best way to learn how to not get run through your face is by getting run through your face. If somebody could do that every play, then he’s going to learn how to not let that happen.“
White running through Campbell’s face has indeed happened this summer. While the young blocker has held his own admirably for much of camp, the third-year defender has gotten the better of him on multiple occasions.
As White pointed out, however, the goal of those reps is not to beat the other player but to help his development. And there are several lessons for Campbell to be learned from the 1-on-1s.
“The biggest thing for Will is his willingness to learn and his ability to sometimes get beat but then not hold your head down.” White said. “A lot of times when you come in as a rookie, you’re going to lose reps. Everybody loses reps sometimes, but guys come in — five-stars, All-Americans, things like that — thinking they’re the best in the world and when they face adversity sometimes they shut down.
“That’s something that Will doesn’t do. He asks the questions. He says, ‘OK, how can I not lose this rep?’ He learns and he comes back better. That’s the best thing that you can do as a rookie. Because there are going to be learning curves. There are going to be challenges and everything like that. But are you willing to put the work in to actually get better?”
By all accounts, Campbell has done just that ever since his arrival in New England as the fourth overall selection in the draft. One part of his process has been to actively seek out veteran players on both sides of the line of scrimmage such as White and fellow offensive tackle Morgan Moses for their feedback.
“Will will always talk to me like, ‘Hey, can you tell me what you see there? What am I doing there?,’” White said. “And then a good addition is Moses; he talks to Moses [about] a lot of angles and things like that.
”So, he’s always getting better.”
