before his freshman season, he nearly attended clearwater central catholic high school, as well as img academy, but decided to attend his zoned school, east lake high school in tarpon springs, florida. as a freshman, he played varsity football for east lake, but mostly on defense. he had 1 reception for a 26-yard touchdown, 2 interceptions and 81 tackles, including 2 forced fumbles. that season east lake compiled a 9–4 record before losing in the 2011 florida high school athletic association (fhsaa) class 8a region final in overtime to plant high school on december 2, 2011. plant had won state championships in 2006, 2008 and 2009. plant went on to become state champion that year, marking four consecutive years it had reached a championship game. campbell accumulated statistics in 12 of the 13 games (not the november 4 game at palm harbor university high school). he was named a maxpreps 2011 u.s. air force freshman all-american first team selection at linebacker, although his true position was safety. he was not selected to the "tampa bay times" 2011 all-suncoast region football team for hernando, pasco, hillsborough and pinellas counties or even the "times" 2011 all-pinellas county football team.