James Wilhoit called Mike Ekeler to tell him about Charles Campbell last November.

Campbell—a Jackson, Tennessee native who had spent the previous five seasons as the kicker at Indiana—had recently entered the transfer portal and Wilhoit wanted Tennessee's special teams coach to know he was available.

Wilhoit was a former Tennessee kicker himself and had developed a relationship with Ekeler through his kicking camps—the Nashville-based Wilhoit Kicking Academy, where he coached Campbell.

Campbell grew up a Tennessee fan but timing prevented him from signing with the Vols out of the University School of Jackson in 2018.

Now the timing was right.

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“I pushed on coach Ekeler,” Wilhoit said. “I said, ‘Listen, you have an NFL kicker that’s sitting here getting ready to transfer and he loves Tennessee and would love to be here. This is too good of a fit.’...Our interests aligned. We both want the same thing, which is for Tennessee to have a great kicking game. Once that happened, coach Ekeler got a chance to talk to him and meet him. The rest is history.”

Campbell transferred to Tennessee less than a month later, spending his sixth and final season of eligibility at the program he grew up dreaming of playing for.

“When I was in the transfer portal, we were looking at schools that might potentially be taking kickers," Campbell said. "When Tennessee was on the board, I was like, ‘I really want to go to Tennessee.’ I thought it would be a great fit and so did James. We worked really hard–both of us. He did a lot of work behind the scenes to get me here. It’s been such an honor. I’m the luckiest guy there is.”

Campbell watched the video clip like it was unfolding for the first time in front of him.

It had been nearly a decade since James Wilhoit nailed the 50-yard field goal to beat Florida, 30-28 at Neyland Stadium in 2004. Growing up in a family of Tennessee fans, Campbell knew about the play that etched Wilhoit into Vols football lore but after meeting him for the first time in 2013, he went back and watched it to learn more about the man he was going to be taking kicking lessons from.

“I remember when I first started working with him, I knew that he hit the Florida kick, the 50-yard field goal,” Campbell said. “I looked up the video just to see who this guy was. I always make fun of him for his celebration after the kick. He hit it and just kind of took off running with his arms up. That’s about the first memory I have of James.”

Campbell was a talented eighth-grade soccer standout that didn't know how to kick a football when he joined Wilhoit's kicking camp, but Wilhoit could see the potential even then.

It set in motion Campbell's own kicking journey, which has included stops in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the frigid and wet terrain of November football in the Big Ten and now Tennessee.

Getting there took dedication, both from Campbell and his family.

He trained with Wilhoit a dozen times a year and by the time he reached his sophomore year, The 5-foot- 9 Campbell was living in the gym, working to add weight and strength to complement an already powerful leg.

“His leg was so fast,” Wilhoit said. “He runs like a 4.5 40-yard dash, or he did at one time, so he’s always been super fast. I think the biggest thing was his overall weight and height. Was he going to get big enough to play at an FBS level? The great equalizer for him was he really committed hard to the weight room and he is super strong. He’s the type of guy that loves to work out, he likes getting stronger. He’s embraced the weight room. He had a personal trainer while he was in Jackson at USJ and he was always doing whatever he needed to do extra to be great. So, he has really maximized all of his talent.

"He was always a super talented guy, but his development with his technique in the weight room over the course of his sophomore and junior year is what really kind of pushed him to the next level.”

That approach led to Campbell fielding a few major college football offers. He signed with Indiana in 2017, joining a list of Wilhoit Kicking Academy alums over the last 15 years to reach the next level, including former Tennessee kicker Aaron Medley and current Alabama kicker Will Reichard, who recently became the SEC's all-time scoring leader.

Campbell has carved out his legacy—first at Indiana where he made a name for himself his redshirt sophomore season in 2019. Campbell led the Big Ten in field goal percentage and became just the second player in Indiana football history to make three 50-plus yard field goals in a single season in 2020.

Wilhoit kept up with Campbell's time at Indiana as much as he could, texting and calling him at least once a week. He even made the trip to watch the Hoosiers play Michigan in Bloomington on Nov. 7, 2020.

Indiana won, 38-21. Campbell contributed with a 52-yard field goal.

"It’s one of those things where on a Saturday I would be watching Tennessee play football and I’d be flipping the channel to watch Indiana as well to see how he was doing," Wilhoit said. "Even during COVID, I went to the Michigan and Indiana game and watched him kick. He and I have been close for a long time. At this point in his development we’re at a point where he’s comfortable enough to tell me what’s going on and I just try to be a mentor to him and help him as much as I can.”

During Campbell's recruitment, Tennessee already had a scholarship kicker on its roster in Brent Cimaglia but by the time his fifth season at Indiana had ended, the Vols were in need of a replacement for Chase McGrath.

Wilhoit was among the first people that Campbell went to after he entered the transfer portal.

“I definitely leaned on James (during the transfer process),” Campbell said. "He has a lot of connections with coaches. I think he was a big reason why I’m at Tennessee. He definitely put some feelers out there, tried to get my name out for me. He was my biggest advocate for me with any college in the transfer portal.”

Campbell entered spring practices in a competition for the starting kicker spot and was named the starter on Tennessee's week 1 depth chart before playing Virginia on Sept. 2.

He made his field goal kicking debut a week later in the Vols' 30-13 win over Austin Peay, going a perfect 3-of-3. In games against Florida and UTSA in the following weeks he combined for two made field goals, missing on one 50-plus yard attempt in that span.

In a low-scoring game vs. Texas A&M on Oct. 14, Campbell was 2-of-3, scoring twice from 31 and 24 yards out in the fourth quarter to secure a 20-13 victory.

“I think the biggest thing that I had been telling him is that early on in the season, he hadn’t really been challenged a lot,” Wilhoit said. “There were a few kicks here and there, but we hadn’t really had to lean on a field goal game. I kept telling him...there’s going to be a game where you’re going to have to make multiple field goals for us to win and you’ve got to be ready for it. You’ve got to be prepared. This is the week.’"

That week arrived against Kentucky last Saturday night.

Tennessee and Kentucky traded blows at Kroger Field in Lexington but the Vols never trailed, thanks in large part to Campbell, who hit all four of his attempts from 44, 49, 34 and 35 yards.

His last attempt in the third quarter bounced off of the left upright and fell through to give Tennessee a two-possession lead in what ended up being a 33-27 win.

"(Campbell) was a huge part in the football game," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. "He did an unbelievable job. Long one, (he) got the ricochet. He was living right.”

After the game, Campbell called Wilhoit.

"He was one of the very first people I called,” Campbell said. “He is probably the first person to text me. He’ll give me live updates throughout the game on how I’m hitting the ball, whether good or bad. He will get on me. He’s one of the first people I called after the game and he was just so excited for me and I was just happy.”

"I told him, ‘You only get so many opportunities. You’ve got to make sure that you make the most of them,'" Wilhoit added. "That’s what we kind of said. It’s funny, Coach Heupel said the same thing I said about that field goal. I said, ‘I guess you’re living right because you got the shooter’s roll on that one.’”

Campbell has been living right for the last 10 months.

Coming to Knoxville has been more than a final act. It has allowed him to be closer to his family. His younger brother Jon Alex Campbell is currently a sophomore and his sister Mimi Campbell is a freshman. The three Campbell siblings meet up for lunch or dinner a few times a week.

Back in Jackson, Campbell's grandfather is known by his friends as the "Tennessee kicker's grandfather"—a moniker he's proud of.

“I think everyone is very proud of me,” Campbell said. “It’s just such an honor to represent my family at this school, especially with the long line of Campbell’s that have come to Tennessee and I get to be the one that gets to go out on the field and represent them."

Campbell wouldn't have believed that when he was the middle school soccer player looking to get into football. Wilhoit believed it, though.

“When I first started training with (Wilhoit), he told me I would be a pretty good kicker if I stuck out kicking the football," Campbell said. "I didn’t really believe him, but I just kept working out with him more and more. I saw myself developing as a player all because of his coaching. As I started developing more as a player, we started working more and more together and now, he’s almost like a second dad to me.

"I call him all the time, multiple times a week talking both about football and about life. I couldn’t say enough about how much he has done for me.”

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