National wrestling champion Cace Campbell has advanced to varsity football as an eighth-grader in Iowa

Cace Campbell is the first eighth-grader in the state of Iowa to play varsity football. Cace, who has thrived in sports for years as a top youth wrestler in the state, advanced to Cedar Falls High School’s varsity football team this season.

The 8th grader effortlessly proved he could excel on the field against all levels before the coaching staff moved him up to varsity. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier spoke with Cedar Falls’ head Coach Brad Remmert, who explained Campbell’s stellar performance during summer training camps.

The Courier reported that during the recent camps, nobody on the first-year team could block Cace, who is 6-foot, 230 pounds, and when he trained with sophomores and junior varsity players, he was "unblockable" as well.

Photo/Facebook@Camarion Turner

Last week, Campbell had a sack and more than 10 tackles for the season, which includes only three games. His coach praised him for handling the jump from 7th grade football to varsity football. Coach Remmert explained, “He’s absolutely handled it well. You watch him, and he’s out there competing and having fun, doing a really good job for us.”

Yet, his athletic talent extends beyond football. He’s been a youth wrestler for many years. Since 2025, the thirteen-year-old has won five consecutive first-place titles in wrestling, including this year’s AAU Winter Nationals and the Iowa AAU Kids State Championship, with a plethora of other 1st-place rankings. His academic accomplishments don’t fall far behind, as Campbell is a 4.00 student at Holmes Middle School in Cedar Falls.

Photo/Instagram@Iawrestle

Many Iowa football spectators are already projecting that they’d like to see Campbell attend the University of Iowa's football program, and that they feel he can reach the NFL if his growth in the sport continues.

The young athlete’s older cousin, Antonio Mays, graduated from East High School in 1996 and played in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the early 2000s after attending Iowa State University and Southern University.

Photo/Devin Bass/IA Football

Many observers also project that Campbell could earn NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) endorsements because of his dual athletic capabilities. Some high school athletic standouts, such as Juju Watkins, who plays basketball at USC and previously attended Sierra Canyon High School near Los Angeles, had NIL contracts in high school. In July, Nike announced its new cohort of high school NIL football recruits it signed to its roster.

Campbell plays his third week of high school football this week!

Stay tuned for more updates on Cace Campbell.

To subscribe to Volume 82, click the link. To follow our Instagram, click here; for TikTok, click here!