BUIES CREEK – Campbell University injected a dose of college football into the first weekend of March Madness.
The Camels held their annual Orange and Black spring football game Saturday afternoon at Barker-Lane Stadium – the first North Carolina college program to hold a spring game in 2025. Most of the rest of the spring games will come in April.
“We were able to go a little sooner in the springtime this year,” Campbell coach Braxton Harris said. “We say we like to start fast, right? So we started fast this spring.”
The Camels spent about 90 minutes in scrimmage action on a picturesque Saturday afternoon. Here are highlights:
Defense stands tall most of the day
Campbell stoppers, wearing black jerseys with orange trim, allowed just one touchdown and held strong during several red-zone situational drills.
This heartened Harris, whose Campbell team finished last in the CAA a year ago in red-zone defense, giving up points on 42 of 45 opponent trips inside the Campbell 20.
“We put them in some tough spots intentionally to learn some situational awareness,” Harris said of Saturday’s spring action. “The red zone is so much of the game. We held (our offense) to field goals in the red zone. That was really big.”
While the new year brings new faces, Campbell won’t be doing a full reset to its defense. The Camels are set to return the top three tacklers from a year ago, graduate student Jalen Brooks and redshirt seniors Jojo Pace and Logan Livermon.
Brooks, who played at Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh and started his college career at UNC, finished with 118 tackles in 2024, among the most in the state at any level. He made a stop on his first play of the spring game Saturday and looked sharp through the spring.
“We have a lot of guys here who have bought in,” Brooks said Saturday.
Mighty @GoCamelsFB kicked off the 2025 spring football game schedule today at Barker-Lane Stadium.
Perfect day for football! Here are a few of our favorite images. #RollHumps 🐪 pic.twitter.com/0WRX8DQ73x— NC Football News (@NCFootballNews) March 22, 2025
Quarterback competition in full swing
The Camels played four quarterbacks during the spring game, including two transfers brought in to compete for the starting job.
Mike Chandler II played in all 12 games a year ago and started at different types in relief of Chad Mascoe. A dual-threat, Chandler led Campbell in rushing (505 yards) and also threw for 1,118 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He showed off his shifty moves on multiple plays Saturday and scored the offense’s lone touchdown on a QB keeper.
“I don’t know if there is a more dynamic player than him in the CAA,” Harris said.
In addition to having one of the best names in college football, transfer quarterback Kamden Sixkiller (McNeese) gives Campbell a 6-4 presence in the pocket. He led multiple drives Saturday and earned big yardage on one running play.
The third quarterback in the mix is Lenoir-Rhyne transfer Jalen Ferguson, who threw for more than 3,000 yards in 2024, helping the Bears to the second round of the D2 playoffs. Ferguson is from Clemmons and played high school football at West Forsyth.
While Harris said he is far from naming a starter, he savors having depth at that key position. The Camels’ roster also includes redshirt freshman Jed West from Waynesville (Tuscola HS). West saw limited action Saturday.
Sixkiller played in three games at McNeese in 2023, including a game against Houston Christian when Harris was head coach there. In that contest, Sixkiller completed 19 of 34 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown.
Last season, the Norman, Okla. product completed 85 of 160 passes for 928 yards and three touchdowns.
“I got to see him in person. I got to see his mettle,” Harris said. “I know he’s got the ability to be ‘it.’ We love that (quarterback) room because all three of those guys give us opportunities to win football games.”
Camels searching for offensive playmakers
Campbell received a jolt earlier in the week when first-team all-conference wide receiver Sincere Brown announced he was entering the portal. That left the Camels without their top two wideouts from 2024 (VJ Wilkins transferred to Boston College in the offseason).
Randall King, who was third in catches a year ago, caught multiple passes on Saturday. The Camels also got tight ends like Chase Wilkens (Monmouth transfer) involved in the offense.
Tailback JJ Cowan, who played for nearby Triton High School, had some nice runs, including one where he carried multiple tacklers with him for extra yardage.
Cowan (365 yards last season) brings experience to the running back room, along with returnee Mark Biggins (406 yards, 3 TDs in 2024). Campbell signed highly touted back De’von Thomas from Rolesville in February. Thomas rushed for almost 5,000 yards and scored 59 touchdowns during his prep career. Rolesville finished as the 4A runners-up in 2024.
“I think you should expect a lot of big things, a lot of explosive plays this year,” Cowan said of the Campbell offense. “I feel really excited because I feel like coach Harris is bringing us together. Some people, I don’t think they were bought in last season but this year I feel like (coach Harris) has all of us together… The offensive line, as long as they push through, we’re going to get there.”
Harris said he liked that his offense didn’t turn the ball over in two scrimmages this spring. He also liked that he had a lot more pieces to work with on the offensive line.
“If you remember last year when we were standing here, we had six scholarship offensive linemen on campus,” the coach said. “And now we’ve got 13. And then out of that group, eight of them have played more than 10 college starts in a game. The defensive line, too, is a whole group. Coach (Larry) Hart has been able to roll two and three groups out there who are competitive.”
Transfer portal takes – and gives back
Harris said he doesn’t begrudge players leaving via the portal. He recognizes this is the new age of college football when players will come and go every year, regardless of where they made their initial commitment out of high school.
“The transfer portal is what it is,” he said. “There are guys who do it the right way and there are guys who do it the wrong way. I think we’ve had a lot of guys that do it the right way. If guys come to Campbell and get developed and get opportunities to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, we want them to have the best opportunity they can for them and their family… That’s life and we want them to handle it the right way. And we want to teach our guys how to handle it. That’s the real world.”
Campbell’s incoming transfer class included more than a dozen players from all over the country and multiple divisions of play – FBS, FCS, D2 and junior college.
“When we look into the transfer portal, we’re not looking for just a big name that pops in there,” Harris said. “We want people that want to come to Campbell, that see the value in that, and they want a great degree. They want to be here in North Carolina and they want to compete in this league and build championships.
“And so we’re not looking for the name, the stars. We’re looking for the fit. And somebody that wants a great education and that wants to be at Campbell and wants to build.
“I think that’s what we’ve gotten out of (the 2025 class). So we’re excited to go at it again and see if we can get a couple more pieces to plug in right here at the end.”
Tough schedule awaits, again
Campbell played the 10th toughest schedule in FCS a year ago, which included road trips to FBS Liberty and top-25 Western Carolina in addition to eight CAA foes in one of the toughest conferences in the nation.
The Camels (who upset WCU in Cullowhee) await another grueling set of games this fall. They begin on Friday, Aug. 29 at Rhode Island. The Rams won the CAA last season and posted an 11-3 overall record.
The non-conference slate includes not one but two road games against in-state FBS opponents. The first comes Sept. 6 at East Carolina. The next will be a month later (Oct. 4) at NC State.
“Getting both of those teams on the schedule … means money’s not an issue this year at Campbell,” Harris quipped.
“But those are great games, right? The local guys, they know those guys at State. They know those guys at ECU. You look at what we did last year against the Liberty team. We go play Liberty and it’s a one-score ball game going into the fourth quarter, which nobody would have given us a shot to do that.
“Our guys enjoy the challenge. They enjoy the opportunity. It’s fun, right?”
