Kentucky commit Javeon Campbell with UK assistant coaches, from left, Anwar Stewart, Brad White and Vince Marrow. (UK Athletics Photo)
One big reason that Western Hills defensive lineman Javeon Campbell decided to verbally commit to Kentucky was because of UK’s success of developing high level defensive linemen.
“I know how (assistant) coach Stew (Anwar Stewart) coaches up his guys. I am really confident in everybody there but I really like coach Stew,” Campbell said.
Former UK all-SEC running back Anthony White played at UK with Stewart and remains close friends with the UK assistant coach. He offered Campbell advice about what to expect.
“Anwar’s thing is football. If you don’t eat and sleep football, you can’t play for him,” White said. “If you make a mistake and can explain why you made it you can go back and play again because you are figuring it out. if you keep making the same mistake, you are going to stand by him (on the sideline).
“Anwar is probably the toughest coach on the team. A lot of coaches accept mistakes but not him and that’s why his room is where it is now. You are not getting anything past our defensive line.”
Western Hills coach Simon Vanderpool likes that Stewart is a “football guy” who can push Campbell.
“When they (UK coaches) saw him play basketball for the first time, they saw he did not play like an average basketball guy,” Vanderpool said.
The Western Hills coach says even though this is only Campbell’s second year of high school football, he can take the hard coaching needed to reach the standard he wants to be at.
“Physically you can see a huge difference in him from last year when he was 250 (pounds) and this year he is around 280. He has also progressed just knowing the game of football,” Vanderpool said. “In the SEC, everybody has 280-pounders plus on the defensive line. Just seeing his progress physically of how he is playing and understanding the game better is a huge difference compared from last year to now.”
Vanderpool credits Western Hills basketball coach Jeff Cody for helping develop Campbell. Cody coached football at Paris and played football at Morehead state University.
“The biggest thing (to Cody) was the big picture and to see where Javeon was physically different from other guys and could have a bright future in football,” Underwood said.
National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, host of the only national weekly high school recruiting show on the CBS Sports Network, has Campbell as the No. 1 senior in Kentucky.
“He has good length and can be an outstanding pass rusher in college,” Lemming said. “He has unlimited potential with those long arms and quick feet. He really moves well and checked all the boxes of a big-time player when I went to see him.”
2 Responses
We will always be solid on defense. Its the offense that is never above par.
DL was rock solid again cept those 2 runs got gashed on. Take those away and we probably held the Rebs to 60 yds or so. Secondary did play a little better today but lot of room for growth.