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Will Campbell of Kaukauna selected to receive 2021 John Anderson Award

11/17/2021, 1:00pm CST
By Travis Wilson

Wisconsin Sports Network and WisSports.net are happy to announce Kaukauna's Will Campbell as the 2021 recipient of the John Anderson Award as the most outstanding senior linebacker in Wisconsin, part of the WSN Senior Football Awards.

Will Campbell is a monster in the middle of the Kaukauna defense, always ending up around the ball and making plays.

"He is an incredible leader," said head coach Matt Binsfeld. "Unquestionably, Will was the guy that every player in our program looks to and follows. He is very intentional about this role and has a personal relationship with nearly every one of his 115 teammates. He is perhaps the greatest student of the game that I have coached."

He has nearly three times as many tackles as anyone else on the team with 103, including 14 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and three interceptions.

Finalists for the award were Campbell, Jack Baretz of Franklin, Kaden Hooker of Waunakee, Nick Jorndt of Whitefish Bay, Langston Latham of Catholic Memorial, and Ben Rehl of Mukwonago.

Past winners include Arrowhead's Derek Landisch (2010), Wisconsin Rapids' Vince Biegel (2011), Green Bay Southwest's Nathan Paup (2012), Mukwonago's Dominic Cizauskas (2013), Wausau West's Jake Whalen (2014), Menomonie's Mason Stokke (2015), Bay Port's Matt Lorbeck (2016), Catholic Memorial's C.J. Goetz (2017), Grantsburg's Leo Chenal (2018), Marquette's Riley Nowakowski (2019), and Xavier's Mac Strand (2020).

The award is named after John Anderson, a former Waukesha South standout who received All-Conference and All-State recognition on both offense and defense for the Blackshirts. He would go on to star for the University of Michigan for four seasons where he twice earned All-Big Ten honors. Anderson would be selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 1978 NFL Draft and go on to a successful 12-year career. Upon his retirement he was the Packers all-time leader in tackles with 1,020 (the Packer only have stats compiled since 1975) and still holds that record today. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade team for the 1980's and the Packers Hall of Fame in 1996.

The voting panel for the WSN Senior Football Awards consisted of:  Travis Wilson, WSN General Manager and Head Football Writer;  Norbert Durst, WSN Content Manager; Dennis Semrau, ESPN Madison; B.J. DeGroot, WSCO The Score 95.3 in Appleton; Curt Hogg, NOW Newspapers; Dan Barwick, WSN Contributor; Colton Wilson, WSN Content Producer; Fan Vote


About the Author

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.

Tag(s): News Archive  News  Travis Wilson  Senior FB Awards