Will Campbell: A rising star in DIII football and an aspiring author

When Will Campbell’s time in high school was coming to an end in early 2022 and his college decision neared, he knew he was going to have options thanks to his success on the football field and in the classroom.

As a student-athlete at Kaukauna High School just 24 miles southwest of Green Bay, Campbell was the John Anderson Award recipient as the top linebacker in the state of Wisconsin. He was a unanimous All-State selection and the Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Fox Valley Association.

He made a lot of college visits. Through that process, he began getting a glance behind the curtain of college football at the scholarship level – essentially, what it might be like to compete against your own teammate for scholarship dollars. The culture was ruthless and Campbell decided it wasn’t for him. His time looking for a college home eventually pointed him nearly two hours south of his home to Carroll University.

“When I visited Carroll, they had a very good thing for their football culture … with different leadership programs,” Campbell explained. “You come in as a freshman and you’d have the juniors and seniors you’re competing against trying to help you learn the plays. Everyone’s being really nice to you. And that’s kind of the environment that I wanted.”

It’s been a great fit for Campbell and the Pioneers. The 6-foot linebacker – now a junior – played in all 10 games as a freshman, making 63 tackles, ten of which were for a loss. He was voted College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year by the league’s 10 head coaches at the end of the 2022 season. Through last Saturday’s game versus Wheaton, Campbell has appeared in 23 consecutive games to start his career with 161 tackles.

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He’s also been a key contributor to the Pios’ track & field program, receiving All-CCIW honors in the weight throw last February at the CCIW Indoor Championships and earning the CCIW’s Elite 26 award in men’s indoor track & field, presented to the student-athlete who excels academically and athletically at the conference level in each of the league's 26 sponsored sports.

His list of athletic achievements in Waukesha is impressive and continues to grow. But it was also his time away from athletics at Carroll that has really started to shape his college experience.

“Right after high school, I decided – you know what – I want to write a book. No one really thinks that I can, so why not just do it?

So that’s exactly what he did. Through a process of 18 months of writing, Campbell penned The Blackwood House, a 118-page mystery-thriller officially published on Amazon in February 2024.

“It’s about this boy, Josh, and he just graduated high school. It’s about him overcoming some of his anxieties and self-confidence issues to become the man that he’s supposed to be and going on this journey to figure out what that means.”

The process also included extensive editing, a process that costs thousands of dollars – not something typically on hand for a college student. So Campbell worked with friends for more than six months, combing through the story to ensure it met his standards.

Campbell, who developed a strong affection for literature near the end of high school, believes the lessons he has learned through what has been a successful athletics career have translated to his efforts as an author.

“When you’re writing, it’s a huge commitment that you have to stick with the whole way through … I feel like that’s a lot of people in life where they start something and just don’t finish it. If you do that in football, it’s not going to turn out well for you. And you’re not going to have the football career that you wish you could have had.”

“I think definitely the perseverance and persistence with that helps me in football and has a crossover there. Both of those things are not easy. To be able to do something that’s difficult over a long period of time I think is really important, not only for football and writing, but also for life.”

Beyond his writing career, Campbell hopes to extend his football career as long as possible. He has also shown interest in coaching or staying connected to the game of football through the business community, perhaps with an emphasis on improving player safety.

“Everyone that has done great things in this world is just an ordinary person who chose to be extraordinary,” Campbell said. “You might think, I’m not as talented as this guy, I don’t have the natural gifts that this person has – ok, well it doesn’t matter. You can’t change that.”

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“But what you can change is your effort and what you’re willing to put into it. If you are willing to give everything that you have, then things are going to work out well for you. You might see the results that you want, you might not … it doesn’t matter. It’s how you respond to that situation.”

Though Campbell still has plenty of time for football and track & field before finishing his degree at Carroll, he’s already looking to the future and authoring another book – a futuristic dystopian setting examining society, culture and morality. He views it as another opportunity to not only showcase his writing prowess, but to deliver his own message on striving to be excellent in all aspects of his life.

“No matter what it is in life, do it with 100 percent excellence, even if it’s just waking up in the morning. Be the best at waking up in the morning. Be the best at showing up to class on time (or) turning in your homework. Be the best at being friendly to people on campus because ultimately that’s going to transform who you are as a person.

“And let me tell you, when you become all that you can be and are on that path to going there, crazy things are going to happen for you.”