Mike Campanaro RB/DB

[Riddlewire]

Sophomore: 1,044yards, 7TD, 601yds Rec
Junior: 1,820, 30TD, 4 punt ret TDs, 3KO ret TDs
Senior: 2008-2009
Anyone who has spent a little time perusing the athlete lists at Rivals or Scout has probably come across Mike Campanaro. I'm a little surprised there wasn't already a thread for him here. Maybe it's because his ethnicity is questionable. When I saw his Scout picture, I assumed he was white. But then I saw his Rivals picture and I'm a little less certain now. Is he mixed? I really don't know. Take a look for yourselves (I'm feeling particularly lazy at the moment so I'm not going to bother posting the pics here).
Scout
Rivals
Let's assume for the moment that he's white.
I noticed him last season when a clip of his defensive highlights from his sophomore year were posted. I sorta forgot about him until recently, when I was checking back through the recruiting lists. Well, just recently, his Junior season highlights were posted on YouTube. Two full vids worth.
Clip 1
Clip 2
This guy is shifty as hell. And with incredible breakaway speed. The phrase "Bounce it to the outside" was invented for guys like Mike. He also has great vision. Returning kickoffs and punts for touchdowns requires a wide view and quick thinking. Scout has him listed as a cornerback and Rivals has him as an 'athlete'. I'm not sure why. His highlights as a runningback are second to none. He doesn't hurdle anyone, but with his elusiveness, he doesn't have to.
I'll resume coverage of Mike when next season starts. Just wanted to get his thread started here.

 

[Don Wassall]

He looks white to me, though in a society where Grady Sizemore is a "Negro" anything's possible.


Great highlight reels. The entire team looks loaded with white players who know how to block and are otherwise well-coached and sound fundamentally.

 

[backrow]

with a name like Campanaro i'd say there's a solid chance that he's white.

 

[Riddlewire]

If you had asked me twenty years ago, I would've said that a guy named 'Lenny Kravitz' would have to be white, also. Alas, such is the new world.
The picture you posted, however, adds another color into the mix. He looks hispanic in that one..

 

[whiteCB]

This kid is as white as the driven snow. If anything with a last name like Campanaro he's probably Sicilian. I know a lot of Italians who have a little bit darker white skin. All it means is that they don't sunburn as bad.

 

[backrow]

living here in Spain i could show you tons of white local people that are way darker than him

 

[johnnyboy]

kid's def. white. im very impressed. great agility ad break away speed.

 

[Angelcynn]

WhiteCB, I was thinking Sicilian aswell. One of my closest friends parents are both from Sicily and one of his cousins looks very similer. He would probably kill me if I said he looked remotley black

.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

wow! this kid is slippery! very impressive.

 

[whiteCB]

WhiteCB, I was thinking Sicilian aswell. One of my closest friends parents are both from Sicily and one of his cousins looks very similer. He would probably kill me if I said he looked remotley black

.

I know I like teasing the dark Italians and calling Mexican and stuff like that. It really gets them goin!!!

 

[jared]

At Illinois and Northwestern camps, he ran a 4.3 in the 40. He's getting interest from Notre Dame to play CB.

It's still early of course, a lot of things could change in a year.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Mike Campanaro has committed to Wake Forest!

Michael is listed as Scout.com's 56th best WR. Wake Forest is talking about making him another slot WR supposedly. Michael's blockers were vastly superior to every defense I saw his team face in his Youtube video. The blocks he got were good enough for him to just run on through in a lot of plays and use his speed and angles to get big yards.

Below are his workout numbers. An incredible 3-Cone time. Short shuttle isn't bad. 40 time is superb! I want to see him at CB. I'm tired of all the white guys they move to the slot. Michael Campanaro should be a CB and Brock Fitzhenry a RB IMO not slot WRs.

Mike Campanaro:
Scout.com Combine Results (full list):
Location:New Jersey
Height:5-9
Weight:173
40-Yard Dash:4.40
Short Shuttle:4.31
Vertical Jump:31.5"
3-Cone:6.78
Broad Jump:9-6 Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

This guy is certainly good as a RB. Campanaro has great speed and burst and breaks tackles well. However his vision and agility weren't "overly" impressive to me as compared to McGuffie, Wegher, Trumpy and Burkhead's highlights on Youtube. I wonder if Campanaro would be better suited for WR or CB. He would be a good Division one RB, but I'm not so sure about the NFL. As a WR he would have a much better chance to become a good NFL player! Just my two cents.Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Michael had a great showing at the Under Armour All American game this week. In one of the drills, he was the only player to catch every ball thrown to him. They had a short feature on him during the game. I hope he gets treated better at Wake than Kevin Harris. We'll see.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

To be fair I actually see Campanaro as more of a receiver at Wake Forest although he could contribute as a runner (ala Percy Harvin). From what I hear he is actually "blowing scouts away" in every receiving drill he has done in camps.

When I saw his video highlight as a runner, he had huge holes to run through; so it was hard to get a sense of his open field agility and short area burst.

But I think his type of agility from what I've seen (seems to be blazingly fast, only solidly quick and seems to jump cut favoring one leg without slowing down much) as well as his super hands and route running could make this kid an absolute stud at WR. He could also play CB with his amazing speed. Good luck to him!

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

in my personal opinion (which apparently isn't worth much, since i don't make my living as a football scout), Campanaro is an obvious cornerback.

he is incredibly fluid and has excellent speed. he also has tremendous ball skills when the pigskin is in the air. however, he lacks good vision, and he doesn't make a lot of people miss. despite his slender physique, however, he is very physical. each time i saw his highlights, and when i watched him in that all-star game, every time i thought the exact same thing.

he is a cornerback. plain and simple. just my .02.

 

[Riddlewire]

in my personal opinion (which apparently isn't worth much, since i don't make my living as a football scout), Campanaro is an obvious cornerback.

I agree with this.
I don't know if his junior year defensive highlights are still up on YouTube, but those are the most impressive of his clips. He's a headhunter on D and a fearless hitter. If not for his size, he'd be an ideal fit at the Rover position. But he tracks down the ball quickly and he has the speed and quickness to blanket most wide receivers.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Yeah he'd probably make a great CB...But with how he has blown scouts away in different receiving drills, I'm also excited to see what he could do as a WR. The more I watch him the more I think it's his only average vision (as far as FBS prospects) that would make him a better WR or CB than RB. He certainly has some good agility (he's a darter who changes direction without slowing much). He also seems blazingly fast, but with only solid acceleration.

I think acceleration is the most important thing for a RB; but as a CB you can certainly get by with blazing speed but solid acceleration by being very physical or playing off a bit. As a RB you need to see the holes fast and accelerate into them.

I personally enjoy watching WRs more than CBs; I'm an offense minded guy. It would be a shame to lose another white CB stud though b/c CB seems even more off limits to whites than RB and certainly WR.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn7-Rl-_CDk

His new highlights are up and they look amazing; He looks similar in style and ability to 22nd ranked Scout.com RB Usua Amanamm, but is a little bigger: I posted a comment on his video a half hour ago then took it down to edit it and it won't let me re-post.

My comment: Ran a 4.4 flat 40; Scout.com Combine. His vision has improved DRAMATICALLY as a runner. I can see why he is listed as an ATH. He could play either CB, WR or HB at Wake Forest. I used to think he projected worst as a tailback b/c his vision and INITIAL cuts didn't look too good, but after watching this video and hearing about the way he performed in receiving drills at all-star camps. Catches everything in site! I think a Percy Harvin type role is how he should be used at Wake Forest!

Edited to add: I'd rather see him play CB personally than exclusively WR. But that is just my own preference, b/c whites never get an opportunity there.Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

This kid's latest highlights and his absolutely stellar production and camp performances CERTAINLY look good enough to be in the Rivals 250, probably even the 100...But evidence be damned, it appears he isn't even in their top 500 players in the country.

Watch toward the middle of the highlight video and you'll see how much more a NATURAL runner with good vision he looks than his 2006 season highlights!

RBs that should be in the Rivals 100 in descending order: Wegher, Burkhead, Gaffney, Trumpy, Swope, RB/WR Michael Campanaro; maybe Ben Bowen and RB/WR Shane McCullen!

Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins