<p>By Bob Socci</p>
<p>Shortly before the opening kickoff of the final home game of his career, Reggie Campbell will take what's become a weekly stroll in his senior season - from the sideline to midfield.</p>
<p>At most - once summoned by the referee as one of two players representing Navy - it might take a half minute for Campbell to cover the 25 yards or so that will lead to a face-to-face encounter with his counterparts from Northern Illinois.</p>
<p>Like so many of the preceding Saturdays, his every stride - however long or short - will be taken with a best friend, Irv Spencer, at his side.</p>
<p>When they get where they're going, they'll meet the referee and greet their opponents. And then - depending on the way the coin bounces determine whether the Midshipmen begin with or without the ball. Or, at the very least, choose a side of the field from which they'll start.</p>
<p>It's all in the line of a captain's duty. Call it in the air, heads or tails? Do you want to receive or defer until the second half? Which end do you wish to defend?</p>
<p>It's a matter of routine.</p>
<p>Especially for someone who's made that trek prior to each of the other 10 contests this fall, in addition to retracing his steps before all of the six extra periods in Navy's three overtime games.</p>
<p>Such as two weeks ago, when Campbell and Spencer paid a second, third and fourth visit to the center of Notre Dame Stadium - more than three hours after the Fighting Irish elected to put their offense on the field first.</p>
<p>With every trip there was a sense of déjà vu.</p>
<p>"Yeh, here we go," Campbell says he and Spencer told each other. "We've been here before. Let's go do it."</p>
<p>Sure enough, they'd been there and done that as recently as mid-October, when Campbell caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in the first of two overtimes at Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>This time, in South Bend, they were required to make an additional trip, thanks to a third overtime.</p>
<p>After which - before the game could end with the Irish in possession, before the Mids could celebrate 'The Stop Heard 'Round the World' - Reggie would be called upon to do something else again.</p>
<p>Per usual, he'd deliver.</p>
<p>First, with a go-ahead score - backpedaling his way inside the pylon on the receiving end of another 25-yard throw from Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada.</p>
<p>Then, by getting lost in a Notre Dame crowd, where only his quarterback could find him for a two-point conversion pass that would prove to be the difference in a 46-44 thriller.</p>
<p>Other than Campbell's immediate reaction to the latter - an uncharacteristic two-handed spike of the football - they were plays that prompted a typically understated response just 48 hours after Navy beat Notre Dame for the first time in 44 years.</p>
<p>In other words, Reggie's words were few. Chosen and then spoken with honest humility. Or, as receivers go - or speak, in this case - much more Marvin Harrison than 'Ocho Cinco.'</p>
<p>Take Campbell's description of his touchdown grab.</p>
<p>"Basically, it was the play call," he explains. "Coach called a good play and it worked out. Kaipo got the ball off and I was able to make the catch and stay in bounds."</p>
<p>And the two-point play?</p>
<p>"I didn't really see it as a tough catch," Campbell said, with the kind of wide-eyed expression that reassures the listener that what he's hearing is the whole truth and nothing but. "Actually, I didn't even know it was like
that until we watched film. I thought I was wide open, honestly."</p>
<p>As for his live (and lively) reaction to that reception, Campbell laughingly conceded that he was more emotional than usual. Before his words gave way to giggles, as they often do when Reggie is approached about anything any of us might consider an individual accomplishment.</p>
<p>'What's the big deal?' the laughter seems to suggest from someone more comfortable redirecting credit to others, someone more interested in team milestones than individual acclaim.</p>
<p>Which helps make Campbell's regular pre-game march to midfield seemingly, in some ways, a departure from character and, yet at the same time, very much in step with who he is and what he represents.</p>
<p>For starters, you won't see Campbell walking on the field at any other time.</p>
<p>When it's time to play, his is a single speed. And it's faster than most - running, receiving, blocking and returning kicks or punts. Or, as he's done in seasons past, covering punts as a so-called 'gunner' and almost always beating everybody else downfield.</p>
<p>Regarding the pre-game handshake with his counterparts, they better get a good look. For it will be a rare opportunity to size up Campbell up close and at a standstill.</p>
<p>In the past, many have gone from literally looking down on Campbell's 5-6, 168-pound frame, only to soon find themselves looking at his backside, trying to catch him in the open field.</p>
<p>He might be smaller than most of his Division I peers, but, as Spencer puts it, "He's so amazingly fast."</p>
<p>Fast enough to run 40 yards in less than 4 .4 seconds, which was more than enough to first capture the attention of Navy assistant coach Ivan Jasper.</p>
<p>"The first thing I saw about (Reggie) was in a recruiting publication, that he ran like a 4.42 at one of the high schools in a combine," recalls Jasper, who proceeded to recruit Campbell to the Naval Academy out of Lake Mary (Fla.) High.</p>
<p>"I went by the school and met him. Of course, he wasn't big, but I knew he fit into our system. He fit the profile to a 'T'. He could run, he had great hips, great feet. I knew that he wouldn't get recruited, that we'd have a chance at him, because of his size."</p>
<p>In the years since, the kid who supposedly lacked size has cast an enormous shadow, while leaving defenders from Connecticut to Colorado State in his wake en route to more than 3,000 all-purpose yards.</p>
<p>Among the Mids' all-time leaders, only Napolean McCallum has gained more.</p>
<p>Many have come on returns, partly because of Campbell's acceleration into the open field and ability to distance himself from defenders. Like last Saturday at North Texas, where his third career take-back of 70 yards or more ended another Navy streak - 117 games without a kickoff returned for a touchdown.</p>
<p>But, as Spencer attests to, Campbell's best asset isn't graded with the use of a stop watch. </p>
<p>"You can't tackle Reggie with just an arm tackle, because he has so much muscle and a low center of gravity," he said. "You're not going to just hit him and he's going to fall over. You've got to run through him or gang-tackle him. Or he'll make you look stupid."</p>
<p>He'll do it with equal measures of strength and shiftiness. A cut-back here, a broken tackle there.</p>
<p>Each the product of an unwavering work ethic and an indomitable spirit of a kid who never paid any mind to the silly notion that you can be too small to play major college football.</p>
<p>"(Reggie's) real hard on himself," says Jasper, whose initial instincts were long ago confirmed - that the kid from Sanford, Fla. was meant to be a slot back in Annapolis. "If he does something bad, he kind of gets down on himself. You want him to brush it off a bit."</p>
<p>"When I step on the field, I just try to work hard and exceed the expectations that are out there," Campbell explains. "In offseason workouts, or just in general, I always felt like I had to do something extra.</p>
<p>"Whatever the standard was, my goal was to reach the standard, but at the same time to look for different ways to improve myself by going above the standard."</p>
<p>And that's really the root of what's become Campbell's pre-game routine, why he was the obvious choice to represent every other Midshipman as he does out in the open, on center stage.</p>
<p>He walks that walk to mid field because, as the cliché goes, he walks the walk in football and in life. Always asking more of himself, not less.</p>
<p>"It was a humbling experience," Campbell says of the day he was voted captain by an overwhelming margin. "It dawned on me these guys admired something about me."</p>
<p>No one more than Spencer, who's shared both faith and friendship since he and Campbell first met at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I.</p>
<p>"That's my brother in Christ, right there, my brother from another mother, as I always say," Spencer says, recounting their initial year together Irv struggling to survive in the classroom, Reggie seldom seeing the playing field in games. "That was me finding God and having friends like Reggie around me to help me get through there."</p>
<p>Since, theirs has been a simple life in what can be a complicated place.</p>
<p>"(Reggie's) a real quiet, mellow guy," says Spencer. "We try to stay out of trouble and lead by example."</p>
<p>Generally, be sticking to their routine. The traditional hair cut on Thursday - one serving as a barber for the other. Weekly Bible studies. And, of course, their Saturday stroll along the 50-yard line.</p>
<p>"Just for us to be able to lead the team out there, that means so much to me," says Campbell. "That's my right-hand man outside of the field."</p>
<p>Campbell also includes fellow slot backs Zerb Singleton and Shun White in this anti-'Rat Pack' - a foursome that, unlike that famed Hollywood gang, tends to toe the straight and narrow.</p>
<p>Though for the admittedly reserved Campbell, there's been one noticeable change in demeanor.</p>
<p>"He has taken more of a vocal role," Jasper notes. "He's a quiet kid, but he understands that being a captain he has to open his mouth and talk."</p>
<p>At times, simply to meet the toughest challenge he confronts as captain.</p>
<p>"For me just maintaining that spark, keeping everybody uplifted all the time," Campbell says, "that's hard with any organization you're a part of, just keeping the morale high.</p>
<p>"But we've got a lot of leaders on the team. Captain, to me, is just a title."</p>
<p>One, however, that comes with a responsibility to regularly meet the press. Something Campbell does with straight-forward common sense. Keeping it real.</p>
<p>"I do interviews, but I try to keep it short and sweet," he says. "I'm not really a beat-around-the-bush type of dude."</p>
<p>As if on the field, where Campbell feels no urge or sees no need to engage opponents in any in-game banter.</p>
<p>"Every now and then you'll have a run-in with a couple of guys, but it's not really worth it," he says on the subject of trash talk. "A lot of times, people who do talk trash on the field are just trying to convince themselves."</p>
<p>Even when the topic is Campbell's height. Or lack thereof.</p>
<p>Usually, such a salvo is rebutted with a shrug, if not another chuckle.</p>
<p>Like the time Campbell remembers an opposing player looking Navy's group of short-standing - yet play-making - slot backs up and down.</p>
<p>"He called us a bunch of Smurfs," he said through another giggle. "I thought that was pretty funny."</p>
<p>In one respect, Campbell understands why others look at him as they do. But, more important, he has his own way of seeing things.</p>
<p>"It doesn't really bother me," he says of the countless questions from those who wonder how such a big playmaker fits into such a small package. "When I look at someone else, say another sport with an undersized guy, I kind of see why people are so amazed at a smaller person doing things (they consider) out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>"It just goes to show, you can do anything through Christ. That's how I feel about it."</p>
<p>If it's unshakable faith that feeds Reggie's soul, it's family that forms his backbone - beginning with his namesake, the Campbell patriarch. </p>
<p>"Ever since Reggie started playing football in the back yard, we've talked about his size," Reginald Jerome Campbell Sr. told The Washington Post in 2005. "Look, God made him 5-foot-6, and that's just the way it is. There is nothing he can do about it."</p>
<p>Except to do what he does best, which often means complementing the spectacular with a matter-of-fact follow up.</p>
<p>Campbell's averaged more than seven yards a run during his career, yet he's never so much as thought about high-stepping unnecessarily into the end zone. He's averaged more than 20 yards a reception, yet you'll never catch him showing up his quarterback if the football isn't thrown in his direction.</p>
<p>Two years ago, Campbell joined the likes of Barry Sanders by tying the NCAA record for most touchdowns in a bowl game, scoring five against Colorado State at the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. Not even LaDainian Tomlinson has visited the Qualcomm Stadium end zone as often in a single game.</p>
<p>The way Reggie reacted to such a remarkable feat was reminiscent of both Sanders and L.T. - two of pro football's greatest, and classiest backs of all-time. Gracefully handing the ball to the officials and thanking his teammates, there was no doubt Campbell had been there before.</p>
<p>No frills from a guy who - as Jasper relates - was raised in a no-nonsense home.</p>
<p>"(Reggie's father) is a no-nonsense guy, he doesn't mess around," Jasper says, based on a relationship forged since his first recruiting trip to the Campbell home. "He's a homicide detective, so he's seen some crazy stuff."</p>
<p>"It's huge," says the younger Reginald Jerome of his dad's influence. "I always looked up to him and my brother, because of the way they carried themselves as men. His humble nature in general was something I always looked up to."</p>
<p>And game after game, without exception, his father and the rest of the family are the first people Reggie looks for outside the stadium.</p>
<p>"Between my mom and my dad, they instilled in me what I call core principles," he says. "Treat people the way you want to be treated and respect your parents. Those two right there can carry you (in life).</p>
<p>"(Regarding) the first one, you run into so many people every day, you never know who you're going to run into again. And as far as respecting your parents, that's in the Bible. They led me to the point where I am now."</p>
<p>Where the Campbells are - often, if not always, in their number 7 jerseys - is where Reggie is. Whenever the Mids are playing, be it last Saturday or this.</p>
<p>With one important exception - brother Tony Martin. Reggie's elder by five years, Tony's a Captain in the Army, deployed to Iraq since January.</p>
<p>Though he did return to the States on leave in time for Navy's season-opening win over Temple in Philadelphia. And made sure to relay congratulations after Navy's recent victory at Notre Dame.</p>
<p>"Since I can remember...I wanted to follow in his footsteps," Reggie says. "Me and my friends, we just followed in our brothers' footsteps. As long as they were doing something positive, we were too.</p>
<p>"He started playing football and I wanted to play too. He went to college (at Florida A&M) and I wanted to go to college too. As far as the military (option), I didn't see it coming, but (Tony) helped ease my transition."</p>
<p>Campbell also took to heart the advice of his father, whose own military ties go back to his ROTC days in college and subsequent years in the Army reserves.</p>
<p>Which has to make it all the more agonizing for the staff at West Point, whose predecessors never so much as contacted Campbell in high school.</p>
<p>Leaving those current coaches in a lurch - trying to game plan a way to beat the Midshipmen in two weeks. Something neither Army nor Air Force has done thus far during Campbell's career.</p>
<p>"Coach Jasper was a great recruiter," he says. "At first, I wasn't really interested (in Navy). A phone call here and there, dropping by the school here and there, Coach Jasper showed a continued interest in me.</p>
<p>"My dad explained to me the whole process and one thing I liked about Coach Jasper, he never lied to me about anything. That's one thing I respected about him."</p>
<p>No false promises. Just straight talk. Or, as Campbell might say, no beating around the bush.</p>
<p>"I just kind of hung around him and called him every week," Jasper said. "(Reggie) never sounded real fired up about it, but I just hung in there with him.</p>
<p>"He didn't do a lot of things (at NAPS). He had some injuries. (But) he got down here and that first camp it was like 'Wow, this kid's impressing everybody.' He played a little his freshman year and the rest of it's been history."</p>
<p>Including Campbell's invitation to play in the Hula Bowl all-star game in Hawaii - where, fittingly enough, Jasper attended college - after Navy concludes its season on the site of one Campbell's greatest performances.</p>
<p>With a sixth win last Saturday, the Mids reserved their place in this year's Poinsettia Bowl, earning a return to San Diego.</p>
<p>There Campbell will join Spencer for one last walk together as Navy teammates. They'll go to the same spot where another offensive captain who once wore No. 7 stood before the first contest of his final year in Blue and Gold.</p>
<p>By the end of that season, 1997, some believed the number should have been retired in honor of Chris McCoy, a record-setting quarterback who amassed nearly 6,000 total yards in his career.</p>
<p>Perhaps a proper tribute to the latest Mid known by that same number is not to retire it at all. But rather, to ensure that whoever dons it in the future understands exactly what it represents.</p>
<p>How a man - a Navy man - should carry himself. Just like Reginald Jerome Jr. has these last four years.</p>
<p>"I just try be as real as possible with anybody," Campbell "Like I said, I'm not going to beat around the bush with people. I try to walk what I talk, I guess."</p>