Arizona Cardinals’ Calais Campbell channels inner child in trip to Denver

For Calais Campbell, the elevation at Mile High Stadium will be 5,280 feet, plus 6 feet, 8 inches.

But picture, if you possibly can, a younger, smaller Campbell running around the streets of Denver in an orange-and-blue jersey, pretending to be his favorite Denver Broncos player.

The Cardinals defensive end grew up in Denver, and will return there to play this weekend as the 3-0 Cardinals come off a bye week to face Peyton Manning and the 2-1 Broncos.

“I had a lot of dreams of playing in that stadium since I was 6 years old,” said Campbell during this morning’s Arizona Sports 98.7 FM ‘s Doug and Wolf broadcast.

Campbell attended South High School in Aurora, Colorado, where as a teenager he recorded a school-record 58.0 sacks in four years, and has since become the school’s only professional football player on record.

The 28-year-old may rock his Cardinals red on game day, but hopefully he’ll have a chance to channel his inner child and soak in the atmosphere at Mile High when he steps onto the field.

“I have a lot of good memories of my childhood growing up and being a Broncos fan,” he said.
But, Campbell maintains, it’s all business once he suits up. He has a goal in mind for this particular game, too: sacking Manning.

“I’ve sacked a lot of the premier quarterbacks in this league, but he’s the one guy I haven’t gotten,” he said. “It’d be sweet to get him.”

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