Tom Zbikowski and Reggie Campbell crossed paths on four occasions during their college football careers, a few times even meeting up when the hard-hitting Notre Dame safety and the elusive Navy slotback came face mask to face mask at the end of a play.
"It was always tough playing against them," Zbikowski, now a rookie with the Ravens, said this week. "It was always a physical game; you're always sore the next day. I got a lot of respect for those guys. Those are the guys who are protecting our country."
Nearly a year removed from their college careers, Zbikowski and Campbell are following the typical career paths for players who achieved as much as they did at Notre Dame and Navy. While Zbikowski is beginning what he hopes to be a long NFL career in Baltimore, Campbell is in the early stages of a military career, learning to become a pilot at the Naval Air Station outside Pensacola, Fla.
They could have become teammates in Annapolis.
As a junior in high school outside Chicago, Zbikowski briefly considered going to Navy and eventually following his father and grandfathers into military service.
Recruited as a quarterback, Zbikowski was also an amateur boxing champion who talked with the school's boxing coach, Jim McNally, as well as a couple of assistant coaches on former football coach Paul Johnson's staff.
But it was the opportunity to play quarterback for the Midshipmen that attracted Zbikowski.
"I wasn't set on where I wanted to go; that's one of the schools that offered [a possible quarterback spot]," Zbikowski said. "Once I started getting some bigger offers, it kind of took a back seat."
Zbikowski wound up at Notre Dame. Despite the mixed results over his career, starting with the turmoil of seeing Tyrone Willingham fired after Zbikowski's freshman year and ending with last year's 3-9 disaster, Zbikowski never regretted his decision to play for the Fighting Irish.
One of the most storied programs in college football lived up to its billing for Zbikowski.
If anything, what Zbikowski enjoyed the most was going on the road, as Notre Dame will do today when it plays Navy at M&T Bank Stadium.
"Every time we walked into another stadium, there was that much hatred for you," said Zbikowski, who also played on teams that went to back-to-back Bowl Championship Series games his sophomore and junior years. "To me, boos were the best thing to hear when you're on the road. That's what kind of draws you there also."
