LSU OT Will Campbell's arm length scrutinized at NFL combine - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — LSU Tigers tackle Will Campbell was a consensus All-America selection this past season, a two-time first-team All SEC pick in his career with the Tigers, won the SEC's coveted Jacobs Blocking Trophy and is one of the most highly-rated players in the NFL draft.

But at the scouting combine this week, he has been formally welcomed into the critique-filled world of the draft run-up with the fact the length of his arms is suddenly a hot topic.

«I think I've shown everything that I need to, you know, show that I can play tackle at an elite level,» Campbell said Saturday. «You can go look at my tape, there's not one play on there that when I get beat you say that's because he has shorter arms.… Obviously I don't have stereotypical offensive tackle arms. I'm aware of that. People have to nitpick something. I've heard it all my career. When I was coming out of high school, the college coaches all said the same thing. I proved them wrong; it's something I anticipate doing again.»

Campbell, who is the top-rated tackle and No. 10 player overall on ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr.'s latest Big Board, started all three of his seasons at LSU, 38 games overall. Saturday, he estimated he has blocked against «close to 15 guys who will go in the first or second round [of this draft]» in the powerhouse SEC.

But in the arduous process of draft analysis, as teams put together their draft boards, many NFL personnel executives want tackles to have enough reach to battle the league's best pass rushers, often with a 34-inch arm length as the minimum benchmark. Campbell and the other offensive linemen at the combine will not be formally weighed and measured at the combine until Sunday, just before the group's on-field workout at Lucas Oil