Scouting Profile: Jihaad Campbell - LB - Alabama
Sales Pitch: Long explosive defender w/ a powerful frame. Younger player who is still learning the finer points of the position, but has the physical tools to be a three down monster.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Jihaad Campbell is a former 5-Star EDGE recruit from the state of Florida. He was primarily a special teams player to start his career at Alabama before getting the starting nod during the season half of his sophomore year. Campbell, a 2024 All-SEC honoree, had a monster junior season with 90 tackles and 8 sacks to his name, filling up the splash play categories across the board.
Campbell is an exceptional athlete with a long powerful frame. He is one of the few linebackers who exceeds 240 pounds in this class and doesn’t sacrifice any movement skills to do so. Campbell displays the strength and length to take on blocks at the point of attack without giving ground. As a player who is newer to the position, his technique isn’t always perfect, but the flashes are eye popping and became more consistent as the year went on. Campbell is at his best playing in space. He has very good straight-line speed to chase down ball carriers on outside runs. He displays the agility and bend to dip around blockers when in pursuit. Campbell is a sound tackler with the tackling radius and strength to drag down ball carriers on first contact. His ability to redirect and stay balanced allows him to mirror quicker players in space. Campbell’s athleticism makes him a fantastic coverage player as well. He is able to open up his hips to get depth in drops, and carry pass catchers vertically down the field. He does a good job squeezing routes in zone coverage and is quick to drive on the ball in front of him. Campbell brings unique versatility on 3rd down due to his EDGE background. He is a legit threat to win off the edge or as a blitzer, as evidenced by his 8 sacks in 2024. His size, burst and length is difficult for lineman to matchup with let alone TEs and RBs.
Campbell has all the physical attributes of a standout off-ball linebacker but still lacks polish. A younger player at only 21 years old, he still needs to get more reps under his belt. Campbell often gets tunnel vision as a run defender and will chase after misdirection and eye candy. He will also abandon his coverage responsibilities in the scramble drill to chase after quarterbacks. His inability to process quickly versus the run makes him passive at times, limiting his use of his natural gifts. Offensive lineman are able to climb to Campbell and swallow him up when he does not have his hands up and ready, which happens far too often. He struggles with similar issues as an edge defender, letting contact come to him and getting washed out of the way. As a tackler in the hole Campbell catches far too often, taking on ball carriers with a high pad level and allowing yards after contact.
Campbell profiles best as a WILL backer, with the versatility to be used as a situational rush backer. He still needs to clean up his overall game, but possesses rare physical gifts to be a three down difference maker. Campbell projects as late 1st, early 2nd Round player as the top off-ball linebacker in this class.