Jalen Campbell is ready to make a name for himself in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The 2019 Winona High School graduate signed a national letter of intent with Southern University, which is located in Baton Rouge, LA. The Jaguars play in the SWAC and compete in the West Division of the 12-team conference. They were 4-7 overall and 3-5 in division play this past season.
“With the way the SWAC is going right now, and the trend is for more players to join the league, I’m very excited for this opportunity,” said Campbell, who played the last three years at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.
The 6-foot, 220-pound Campbell played linebacker for the Wolves the last three seasons (2019 to 2021). Co-Lin only went 3-6 this past season, but Campbell had his best season. He racked up 20 solo tackles and 33 assists, which included one quarterback sack and a forced fumble.
“I was hurt the whole season with an ankle injury, but I just kept playing,” he said. “I broke one ankle in my sophomore season at Winona, but this time it was the other ankle I injured.
“I put my film on Twitter, and the coach at Prairie View and the defensive coach were the ones who contacted me. The coach left Prairie View and took the job at Southern. I had offers from Florida A&M and Chattanooga, but I accepted the offer from Southern.”
Southern’s new coach is Eric Dooley, who left Prairie View for the Jaguars earlier this month.
“They like the fact I can play every linebacker position,” Campbell said. “I’m a leader on the field, and I’ve proven I’m a competitor. When we were going through COVID last year at Co-Lin, I didn’t quit. I stayed and kept working hard.”
During Co-Lin’s shortened three-game season in 2020, Campbell had 11 solo stops and 17 assists. In his freshman campaign in 2019, he had 24 solos and six assists in eight games.
“I didn’t get very many offers after the 2020 season, so I decided to come back for another year,” Campbell added. “I went through the spring and summer, and then I got hurt on the first day of fall practice. I just played through it.”
Campbell graduates this month with a degree in business administration.
