AMHERST — In Damian Mincey’s 16 years of coaching college football, he said he’s never had a player come into camp as late as UMass’ newest addition, running back Brandon Campbell.

Campbell, a graduate transfer from the University of Houston, was still in summer school completing his degree as recently as last week. He flew into Bradley International Airport last Thursday afternoon, completed his physical Friday and started practicing with the Minutemen this week in their final week of preseason practice ahead of their season opener against Eastern Michigan on Aug. 31. 

“We’re just happy that he’s here,” said Mincey, UMass’ running backs coach. “He brings another dimension to the running back room and another experienced Power Five guy who played a bunch of football and has a great attitude, a great head on his shoulders, and we love what we got in him.”

Head coach Don Brown had been alluding to Campbell’s arrival for weeks, and UMass hopes he’s the final piece of a running back room that lost 87% of its rushing yards from a year ago. Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, who set a UMass FBS program record with 1,157 rushing yards in 2023, is off to Michigan State. Backup Greg Desrosiers transferred to Memphis.

In spring football, returning third-stringer Jalen John was the only UMass back with any career rushing yards, but he only notched 10 carries for 31 yards last year. Over the summer, the Minutemen added sophomore transfer CJ Hester from Western Michigan, where he put up 29 carries for 124 yards across seven games last season.

Though Campbell only played a significant role in one of his three seasons of college football, his 435 yards from the 2022 season at Houston easily make him UMass’ most experienced runner. None of the running backs on the UMass roster have ever been a full-time starter at any point in their college careers – John and Campbell each have three career starts.

Campbell is a 5-foot-11, 210 pound back from Houston. His father, Kevin, played basketball at Virginia and his mother ran track at the University of Texas-San Antonio. His uncle, Rogerick Green, was a defensive back in the NFL for three seasons.

He transferred four different times between high schools in the Houston area and opted out of his senior season because of COVID-19. He was a four-star recruit and one of the highest-rated backs in Texas and had already committed to enroll early at USC. He chose the Trojans over offers from Alabama, Texas, Ohio State and more.

Campbell redshirted during his freshman year at USC, Lincoln Riley’s first in Los Angeles, and then transferred to Houston for the 2022 season.

In his first year with his hometown school, Campbell appeared in 10 games for a crowded running back room that featured four backs who totaled between 359 and 544 rushing yards. Campbell ran the ball 90 times for 435 yards and four rushing TDs. He had shoulder surgery immediately after the season and missed spring football.

In his second year with the Cougars, Campbell only appeared in five games and registered 18 carries for 46 yards. He left the program with four games remaining on the Cougars schedule.

He’s only been in Amherst for a matter of days, and UMass coaches are trying to get him up to speed as quickly as they can.

“Inside zone is inside zone, it’s just how it gets taught to him. Counter is counter, it’s just how it gets taught to him,” Mincey said. “He understands scheme and understands how to run the different plays, the biggest thing is just him learning the signals and picking up what we call things and just being in running shape. As much as you run at home by yourself, it’s never the same as when you’re out here with the team.”

Mincey said Campbell has been coming in early and staying after practice to get extra work in. He’s been taking full reps with the offense in practice. And when he’s not on the field, strength and conditioning coaches have been working with him to “get his wind back.”

UMass has not yet released a depth chart for the season opener and it remains to be seen how much Campbell will feature initially. But coaches and teammates have been waiting on his arrival all spring and summer. He’s finally here.