When Saborn Campbell committed to play baseball at Stanford, it seemed like he was all set. With years left of high school still to go, the centerfielder had closed the book on his recruitment.

That was, at least, until he became a three-star safety who began to pick up football offers from schools all around the country, including most recently UVa.

Now, the 6-foot, 180-pound Beverly Hills (MI) Country Day standout is working his way through a unique recruitment.

“So, I committed to Stanford my freshman year of high school,” he told CavsCorner this past weekend. “But the football interest didn’t really start until this past year, after the end of my junior season. I was being contacted by some schools during the season but I started getting offers right after the season.”

Michigan State became the first school to offer on the football side and many others followed suit.

“All of my [football] offers are for both sports,” he said. “So, it’s pretty much a package deal for all of my offers at this point.”

So how does he think it's going so far?

“It’s completely different,” Campbell told CavsCorner. “But I’ve been able to handle it. I mean, I know I want to play both sports at the next level. I already knew my ability in baseball was ready for that level. Now, with the offers and stuff I know my ability in football is too. So now I want to make sure I can do both at the next level.

“Usually the baseball [programs], they offer me because they know I’m committed,” he added. “I'm pretty sure all of these schools know me because that’s how it works in baseball: You know everyone. So they probably wouldn’t contact me for baseball on their own. But when the football coaches come in and offer me, then they talk to the baseball coaches, they say they know me, and then they offer too.”

The reality, of course, is that not all teams within programs are on equal footing. Campbell believes that the schools he’s seriously considering are.

“Most of the schools I talk to are pretty solid at both sports,” he said. “But there are a couple that I know aren’t the top level of baseball I’m looking for or the top level of football I’m looking for.”

In a fun twist on the two-way nature of his story, most schools have been clear on where he’d fit in except for a few.

“All of the schools are looking at me at safety,” he said. “Some schools said I could two-way it and go both ways and play both wide receiver and safety.”

UVa’s offer came last week and when it did, it was also somewhat out of the blue.

“It just actually happened on the spot,” he recalled. “They offered me the first time I talked to them. They told me a lot about the program and I’ve been in contact with them, learning more and more about the program.”

In another interesting twist that doesn’t happen often, because of his experience as a baseball recruit Campbell is familiar with Virginia but said he just needs to learn more about the football program specifically.

“I talked to the baseball staff and they’re on board with me doing both,” he said. “I was actually recruited by Virginia for baseball when I was in eighth and ninth grade. So, I know them and the program.”

Thus far, the process of learning more about schools—or in some cases relearning “new” things about schools he’d already looked at—has been smooth.

“It’s been pretty calm and relaxed,” he said. “But, yeah, it’s been different especially with the football side of it because I’m so used to the baseball recruiting thing and that’s so much different. And also with the whole pandemic, it’s also been a huge thing because it’s taken away the chance to go on visits and stuff. So, I can’t really learn about the program that way.”

The chance to do virtual visits has given him at least some sense of what schools have to offer even though he would rather go in person.

“I’ve done a couple of them,” he said. “I’m going to try to take visits and see the schools in person but I do think it helps me. It also helps me that some of these schools recruited me for baseball before football got involved. Like UVa, I’ve already been there and seen the campus but now I need to go up there and look at the football side of things and learn more about them.”

As of right now, his timeframe is continuing to take shape.

“I’ll probably make a decision right before high school football season, so probably the end of the summer I’ll know where I’m going,” he said, adding that if the NCAA doesn’t allow visits before then that he would “talk it over with my parents and we’ll dec it out with my family. A lot of schools I’ve already been to too, so that helps.”

And what about Stanford?

“I think they understand where I’m at,” he explained. “The baseball side, I’ve always been a Stanford baseball fan. The football side, they’re recruiting me but they haven’t offered me. So I’m going to keep looking at my opportunities to play both.”

As he works through things, look for academics to continue to matter at a very high level.

“I’ve been talking to a lot of the top academic schools, especially going to a top school in the country in Country Day,” Campbell said. “That’s always been a big part of my whole recruiting thing, academic is going to be incredibly important.”

No matter how it shakes out, the chance to play both sports at the next level if one he feels excited to have.

“It’s been fun getting the football offers and attention as well,” he said. “It’s been nice to know they see me at that level. It’s different handling both but I’m having fun with and I’m very fortunate to be in this spot. I just try to keep it steady and not pay too much attention to things and just go through the process.”

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