With one of Tennessee’s starting offensive tackles from this season en route to the NFL draft, the Vols have been looking to the NCAA transfer portal for the past few weeks in search of an experienced replacement. They addressed their needs Monday by beating an SEC rival for an experienced starter from another Power Five program.
Miami offensive tackle John Campbell announced Monday night that he has chosen Tennessee, preferring the Vols to Florida and Florida State, after officially attending all three schools.
The 6-foot-5, 320-pound Campbell, a redshirt junior who was the Hurricanes’ left starting tackle this season, paid an official visit to Tennessee Wednesday and Thursday before leaving for an official on Friday morning this weekend visiting Florida. Florida State received him for an official visit over the weekend of December 17 after he added his name to the NCAA transfer portal on December 16.
Campbell said he had two seasons remaining. He plans to enroll in Tennessee this month, with spring semester classes starting Jan. 23.
He started all 12 of Miami’s games this season after missing the 2021 season with a knee injury. He has appeared in 34 games over the past five years and made 18 starts — 16 in left tackle, one in right tackle and one in left guard.
He became Tennessee’s third signing of the day. Oregon wide receiver Don’e Thornton announced Monday afternoon that he plans to join the Vols and the Arizona State Defender Omarr Norman Lott dialed Tennessee three hours later. Campbell announced his election three hours after Norman-Lott.
The former three-star candidate from the Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla. joined the former Texas offensive lineman Andrei Karic as Tennessee’s second offensive-line transfer this offseason. Karic, a sophomore who appeared in all 12 of the Longhorns’ games during the regular season, primarily played tackle in Texas but could also watch out for the Vols.
Campbell could now be a natural choice to replace him Darnell Wright, Tennessee is starting this season with the right tackle. Wright announced last month that he was leaving for the NFL draft after playing against Clemson on Dec. 30 in the Orange Bowl.
According to Pro Football Focus, Campbell had the second-highest pass-blocking grade for Miami’s regular linemen that season, finishing with a 73.5 grade after giving up 19 pressures in 453 pass-blocking snaps. Five of those charges resulted in dismissals – having only allowed one in his first four years – and he was fined five times. He only had a run-blocking score of 52.6, which brought his overall offensive score down to 59.5.
He wore the redshirt in his debut season in Miami in 2018 after appearing in four games. As a redshirt freshman, he played in 11 games and made two starts, and he appeared in seven games from four starts in 2020 before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the 2021 season.
After graduating high school, Campbell was ranked #481 overall and #36 in offensive tackle for the class of 2018, according to the industry-compiled 247Sports Composite. He received scholarship offers from more than 40 schools, including Tennessee, before signing with Miami in December 2017.
at Dr. Phillips played Campbell against Vol’s senior quarterback Joe Milton III, a former standout at Olympia High School in Orlando. Milton, a former Michigan transfer, started in Tennessee’s last two games this season and will enter spring training as the frontrunner for the Vols’ starting job in the 2023 season.