Saborn Campbell is a top-100 overall baseball recruit who has been committed to Stanford since his freshman year. He believes that he has the ability to be just as impactful a football player as many expect him to be with a bat and glove.

He reports football offers from Virginia, Cincinnati, Michigan State (where his father, Jon, played), Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth. Campbell says he has about 10 offers from Division I schools but that he'd prefer to keep several of them private.

Campbell wants to decide soon where he will play both sports and one of several variables that is out of his control is whether Stanford football will offer, which is something he wants rather than to be a walk-on. (The way NCAA rules work, as soon as Campbell plays in a college football game he's required to be on a football scholarship rather than baseball.)

Campbell's baseball recruiting process began in eighth grade and he didn't wait around to visit schools or build relationships with college coaches. By the time he committed to Stanford he felt he had done a thorough job of scouting out his options.

“I love the campus, coaches, everything about Stanford," he said to Cardinal Sports Report in a phone conversation.

Academics and an opportunity to play for a national championship in baseball were priorities for Campbell when he committed. A top student at Detroit Country Day, his mother has a doctorate and is a professor of teacher development at Wayne State University. His father owns multiple McDonalds franchises through his company, JMC Inc.

Saborn's older brother, Jon Jr., plays baseball at Boston College and earned academic honors while in high school.

There is a high standard of excellence in the Campbell household and an expectation that no one should rely solely on their natural talent to achieve anything. Hard work is required.

Campbell knew he had the ability to play college baseball when he was in sixth grade.

"I was playing for a high-level travel team and against high-level players. I knew that was a goal of mine and that I was going to be able to achieve it so long as I worked hard. I’m naturally gifted. That’s when it really started, so I stayed motivated.

“I have to thank my parents. They’ve blessed me with a bunch of opportunities and put everything in front of me. It was easy for me. All I had to do was show up to my workouts on time and keep my head straight and I knew I’d be able to accomplish whatever I put my mind to.”

Campbell has been a multi-sport athlete pretty much since he was coordinated enough to play. He fell in love with baseball because of the difficulty level.

"With baseball, I love the feel of being on the field running down fly balls and hitting the baseball. I just love the work you have to put into it because it’s such a hard sport. There are a lot of great athletes but playing baseball is probably the hardest thing you can do in athletics. That’s what motivated me to be good at something that is pretty much the hardest thing to do in athletics.”

Stanford baseball head coach David Esquer and assistant/recruiting coordinator Thomas Eager badly want Campbell making plays at Sunken Diamond. The issue is that it's unclear whether there will be the same opportunity on the football field across the parking lot separating the stadiums at Stanford.

David Shaw and the Cardinal have commitments from 2021 defensive backs Jimmy Wyrick, Caleb Ellis, Mitch Leigber and Joshua Moore. They're still in contention for Jaden Slocum and Ceyair Wright. The most likely outcome is a split (Slocum is the better bet than Wright) and it's possible that Stanford says that is the end of recruiting defensive backs on scholarship.

“My contact with Stanford football has been very brief," Campbell said. "They haven’t been close with me. I know the baseball coaches at Stanford have been passionate about allowing me to play both sports. They have been pushing for that. The football side of things … I haven’t really received that kind of love from the football team as of now.”

In theory, it's possible for Campbell to walk onto the football team and then earn playing time, which would put him on scholarship. Brock Jones accomplished that last year but part of the reason was that the team was devastated by injuries. (Jones signed with Stanford as a baseball recruit and walked onto the football team as a safety.)

However, Campell is leaning toward wanting a scholarship from the start, rather than working for an unknown period of time, in what could be a crowded safety class, in the hopes of one day getting a scholarship.

Unfortunately, it's uncertain whether there will be a fall high school football season in Michigan, which means Campbell will have to wait to show football coaches how much progress he has made since the end of his junior season.

“I’m going to sit down with my parents and look at everything to decide what is the best opportunity for me to achieve my goal of playing at the professional level. We’ll see how everything plays out.”