BATON ROUGE — Chad Johnson needed some help.
He was becoming an offensive line coach for the first time at Neville High School, taking over for the departing Mickey McCarty, who was also Neville's head coach. Johnson had served the past six years as linebackers coach.
He had experience coaching on offense as the former offensive coordinator at Delhi Charter School. But this was a different challenge.
"It was a little learning curve," Johnson said. "(What) I kinda say about myself is I know a little bit about everything but not a lot about each thing."
Enter Will Campbell.
Campbell — despite still being a player and Neville's best offensive lineman — quickly became Johnson's de facto assistant offensive line coach. Among other things, he helped Johnson understand pass blocking techniques (like kick slides and pairing footwork with hand placement), something Johnson wasn't as familiar with since Delhi Charter rarely threw the ball during his time as offensive coordinator.
Johnson was comfortable with Campbell to the point where he'd let the junior coach Neville's offensive tackles during practice while he'd be off working with the interior offensive linemen.
"Everyone respected him just like a coach because he was that good and that good of a person that they trusted him," Johnson said.
Trust. That's the same word LSU football coach Brian Kelly can use to describe his thoughts on Campbell, his starting left tackle for the past two seasons and team captain this year.
But that word is also another way to chronicle the friendship Campbell has with his former high school teammate teammate Lance Heard. Heard, a former top recruit who transferred to Neville for Campbell's senior season, is now teammates again with him at LSU.
The pair have become the future pillars at offensive tackle for LSU's offensive line. But the story of their development doesn't begin in Baton Rouge.
It began in Monroe, Louisiana.
"It was pretty unbelievable," Neville coach Jeff Tannehill said.
The development of Lance Heard
Johnson was walking toward the locker room when he saw something that caught his attention. It was mid-November during the 2020 season and Neville was on the road at Bastrop.
"I remember walking in the locker room and seeing this huge big specimen," Johnson said. "And I said, 'Dang, we might be in trouble.' He was just so big.
"It ended up (being) that was Lance."
Neville went on to win the game, 38-15. But that day wasn't memorable for Will's father, Brian Campbell, because of the victory. It was because of Heard.
"I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on Lance," Brian Campbell said. "... They were warming up on their practice field when me and my family and our friends and stuff walked in the stadium and I was like 'Good Lord, who is that kid?' "
Heard, who now stands at 6-foot-6 and 340 pounds, at the time was a sophomore at Bastrop. He wasn't even playing offensive line yet. He was a defensive lineman.
But Neville quickly moved Heard to offensive line after he transferred. He had a lot to learn about the position, whether it was the offensive scheme or the proper footwork and technique associated with playing tackle.
"Lance (was) kind of like a baby giraffe trying to get their feet under them and figure it out," Johnson said.
But there was arguably no teammate in the country better equipped with getting Heard up to speed than Will. Will by that point was one of the top offensive line recruits in the nation and an LSU commit who had been attending numerous offensive line camps over the years — like the Louisiana Line Camp at Nicholls State.
He had been starting for Neville since his freshman season and — like Heard — had always been an athletic specimen. Brian remembers when Will was eight years old, his baseball coach's wife once had to show a copy of Will's birth certificate at a game to prove that Will was young enough to play.
"Will was already at a very high level," Tannehill said. "He was already one of the top recruits in the country and I think Lance just really followed along with what Will was doing. The footwork drills, the hand placement drills, the physicalness of playing offensive line."
Learning a new position wasn't the only transition Heard was making upon his arrival at Neville. He was also working under a new strength and conditioning program led by Neville strength and conditioning coach Eric Herndon.
Herndon has been Neville's strength coach since 2010, having learned the trade under the likes of former NFL strength and conditioning coach Al Miller and former LSU strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt.
"When I was able to learn from (Miller) and be able to take advantage of a career that he had in the college ranks and working with professionals," Herndon said. "... to really knock down walls as far as strength and conditioning is concerned with studying what the Russians are doing, what were the Soviets doing, and how are they lifting with the Eastern Europeans?
"So it's really neat, that all of this kind of landed in Monroe, Louisiana."
Will took to Herndon's teachings almost immediately, improving his upper-body strength during his time under him. Heard, on the other hand, needed to work on his flexibility.
"His legs are so long, his arms are so long and he has a short torso," Herndon said. "And when he would do a back squat, it's like man he's not getting quite as deep as one, as he wanted to get, or two, that he needs to be at."
So to improve his hip flexibility and mobility, Herndon had Heard doing squats on a physio ball with his back to a wall for "a few sets a day."
"And then the next thing you know, boom. Everything is corrected," Herndon said.
Not every athlete Herndon has worked with is as physically gifted as Heard and Campbell.
But Brian still credits Herndon as a big reason behind the development of Will, Lance and Neville's football program as a whole.
"In the strength world part of the business as far as high school coaches (go), he's as good as there is in the state," Brian said.
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Heard steps up, reunites with Campbell at LSU
Campbell graduated and left for LSU following the 2021 season, leaving Heard as the new leading man on Neville's offensive line as a senior.
And Heard took advantage.
He became a five-star recruit and the No. 15 player in the nation, according to 247Sports Composite. His ranking even rose above Will's, who was a four-star recruit and the No. 36 player in the country in the 2022 class.
"I think he realized this is gonna be my team and I'm gonna do it," Johnson said. "And he was very, very good his senior year."
Heard's big season led to him committing and signing with LSU, where upon his arrival he told Kelly that he was gunning for Will's starting spot at left tackle.
"I'm pretty sure that was a joke that the media blew slap out of proportion," Brian said.
Heard hasn't supplanted Campbell at left tackle by any means, but they have spent some time playing together this season. Heard saw action at right tackle in LSU's wins over Grambling State and Mississippi State and later filled in for the injured Emery Jones at right tackle against Auburn and Army.
Campbell has started in every game this season and has allowed no sacks and 16 quarterback pressures.
Their LSU teammates and coaches have also been impressed by how the former Neville stars have developed throughout this season.
"Mentally (Will) has matured a lot... with like X's and O's," LSU center Charles Turner said. "Like seeing blitzes, seeing different things and pointing them out on the edge, so I think that's where he's improved the most this season.
"When you have a true freshman that you can plug and play in an SEC game and not have to worry about fanning to that side, chipping (or) leaving a tight end in, I believe that's a luxury," Kelly said.
But even besides their performances together, the opportunity of getting to play on the same field again has meant a lot to Will. It reminds him of the good old days of playing next to his friend at Neville.
Two Monroe kids living the dream, representing their home state at LSU. Nothing much more you can ask than that.
"Our families, they're by each other (during LSU games)," Will said. "And everybody from Monroe either has on a Campbell jersey or a Heard jersey from Neville. So it's pretty cool."
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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
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