In many respects, Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. are just your average college kids.
Most weekends consist of hanging out with friends, playing video games—but don’t ask them which one is better at UFC 4—or in true Louisiana fashion, catching fish or frogs out on the lake.
That is, unless it’s an LSU football Saturday night. In that case, the roommates are out on the field, likely making school history.
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Last year, the true freshman duo combined to start 11 games on the offensive line together, locking down the left and right tackle positions, respectively.
The Tigers went 9-2 in those contests, and it marked the first time in LSU history two true freshmen served as the primary starters at left and right tackle.
“It’s really fun when you’ve got somebody who has the same goals as you and is the same age and is going through some of the same stuff as you at the same time,” Jones tells 225. “They’ve got older guys who will help give us pointers and stuff like that, but … It’s fun getting better with one of my brothers.”
Campbells echoes that sentiment.
“That’s my brother,” Campbell tells 225. “I mean, I’d do anything for him. And I know he’d do the same for me. It’s a relationship that you need—we know that we’ve got each other’s back no matter what the situation is. Every day we go in there to work, we lift with each other, we run right next to each other. We’re pushing each other to go do drills and just trying to make each other the best player that we can possibly be. And you know, he might beat me in UFC, but ask him who can run faster?”
The friendly banter is par for the course for these two.
They initially met in high school during the recruiting process and hit it off pretty quickly. Campbell was an early enrollee at LSU, so he arrived on campus in the spring.
Jones, a Baton Rouge native who was already signed to LSU, would visit campus regularly and inevitably hang out with Campbell and a few other teammates.
The rest is history—literally.
Campbell and Jones have already accumulated more than 1,700 snaps of experience between the two of them, all before even playing a down of football as sophomores.
Based on their performances, you’d hardly know they were newcomers.
Both Campbell and Jones earned a multitude of honors their first year in college, including Freshman All-SEC (Coaches), Freshman All-America (College Football News) and True Freshman All-America (ESPN).
Additionally, Campbell was named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, was a Second Team All-SEC player and finished the season as LSU’s Offensive Lineman of the Year.
Having the bookends of the offensive line secured for the foreseeable future is one of many reasons why experts and fans are optimistic about LSU’s chances to return to the College Football Playoff sooner rather than later.
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So what do Campbell and Jones think it will take to get them there?
“Doing what we do,” Campbell says. “Just go out there and dominate on both sides of the line of scrimmage. We’ve got some of the most dynamic playmakers in the country on both sides of the ball, so we just need to play—that’s all we’ve got to do. Just go out there and play LSU football just like we practice every day. I think we’ll be perfectly fine if we just do that.”
This article was originally published in the 2023 Tiger Pride issue of 225 magazine.