Tennessee football: Indiana transfer Charles Campbell gives Vols options at kicker

With Chase McGrath leaving, place kicking was going to be a big question for Tennessee football next year. The Vols have Josh Turbyville for punting, and they added Memphis Kicker Max Gilbert out of Lausanne for kicking, but there wasn’t enough people for a real competition.

Well, Indiana Hoosiers transfer Charles Campbell changes that. Campbell became the second transfer to the Vols Wednesday evening following UC Davis Aggies tight end McCallan Castles. Like Castles, he was a member of the 2018 recruiting class, so he brings experience.

In fact, Campbell, who stands at 5’9″ 170 pounds, is actually an in-state kid. He hails from Jackson, Tenn., and went to University School of Jackson. With one year of eligibility, the product of Madison County announced his commitment to Tennessee football on Twitter.

During his four years at Indiana, Campbell hit 39 of his 51 field goal attempts. He also made all 73 extra points. Most impressive, he was 5-of-7 from 50 yards or more and 19-of-25 from 40 yards or more, and his long is 55, so he’s got a strong leg.

However, Campbell also struggled with consistency, as he was 20-of-26 on field goals within 40 yards, including missing one from within 30 yards. At the college level, it’s more important for kickers to be automatic within 40, especially in an offense like what Tennessee football runs.

On top of that, Campbell’s percentages went down each year he was at Indiana, from 100 percent in 2019 to 91 percent in 2020 to 72 percent in 2021 to 70 percent this past year. To be fair, he went from two attempts to 11 attempts to 18 attempts to 20 attempts those years too.

Still, Campbell missed that one field goal within 30 yards this past year, so some of his consistency issues did get worse with more experience. That could be a concern for the Vols, as he’s got a great chance to be their starter in 2023.

Most importantly, though, the Vols have competition at kicker. If Campbell doesn’t work out, then Gilbert could step in and immediately fill that role. Josh Heupel just needed to make sure he had more than one option if issues arose, and he’s now got that.

Of course, he probably still needs more help at punter beyond Turbyville with Paxton Brooks out of eligibility, but an elite kicker is more important. With Heupel’s offense, field position isn’t a big deal, particularly since most punts are at, near or past midfield anyway.

At least he has the depth issue solved at kicker, though. Ideally, Campbell starts for Tennessee football next year, and then Gilbert becomes the full-time kicker after that. However, Gilbert could still end up being the starter for the Vols.