Coach Marinelli like Caleb Campbell as a football player

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Caleb Campbell 13, will get a shot at linebacker with the Detroit Lions

Image details: Army v Navy served by picapp.com

There has been a lot of controversy on Caleb Campbell the Army grad to be, now Detroit Lions draftee. The Army has a policy allowing Army grads to join pro sports with certain conditions and commitments.

Some say he is letting down his fellow grads by not following them to Iraq.

It is a valid argument, but you have to also allow for the fact that he can be good for Army morale as well. E-mails from soldiers in Iraq poured in at the draft and after the draft all being fired up about Caleb Campbell being a potential draft pick and finally a Detroit Lions draft pick.

How about the Tuesday’s he will spend recruiting? Tell me, if you are 18 years old and a Detroit Lions player tells you the Army is a great place to be, wouldn’t that sway your opinion? Isn’t it about time that there was a real role model in the pro ranks?

Isn’t this a win win for the Army, the NFL, and for the Detroit Lions?

So what does Coach Marinelli of the Detroit Lions think?

“I don’t have a whole lot of sentimental,” Marinelli said. “That’s just me. I like guys who run, hit and tackle, and if he does that, then I’m pretty sentimental.”

Marinelli served in the Army in Vietnam. President Matt Millen’s son Marcus was a teammate of Campbell’s at West Point. Campbell is the first Army player drafted by the NFL in more than a decade.

But to say the Lions have Campbell here for anything but football would devalue him as a player and go against what Marinelli has preached.

“He was a draft-eligible player,” Marinelli said. “My job is to find guys who can play football, and if he’s draft-eligible, you would expect me to find him.”
source

NFL Football special comment Not a lot of 7th rounders have made the Lions roster. Campbell will be tried at linebacker, a position he did not play, but a position the Lions are not very deep.

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