A lot was at stake on Feb. 21, 2025. Brock Camp and Hickman’s boys basketball team made the short trip to the north side of Columbia to face their in–town rival in Battle. It was not just bragging rights that were on the line, but also conference title and district seeding implications.
In front of a vibrant environment, Hickman fell behind early in the first quarter. It didn’t get better for Camp as in the quarter, he went down holding his knee. Hickman lost to Battle 97-76. The damage sustained to Camp’s leg included a torn ACL and a slight tear in his meniscus — putting an end to his senior year.
It wasn’t the ending that Camp could have ever envisioned. He never suffered an injury of that magnitude. 102 days prior, on Nov. 11, 2024, Camp, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound tight end, committed to Colorado State’s football program shortly after the Kewpies playoff game at Ft. Zumwalt West.
Camp found himself in a unique situation. It’s not unusual for a high school recruit to leave after the winter semester. Colorado State was open to Camp, arriving in Fort Collins, CO, early. However, the Rams like multi-sport athletes and also advised him to stay and play his full senior basketball season.
For Camp, it was an easy decision, and he 100% agreed with it. He loved his teammates and coaches and wanted one more go-around with the Kewpies.
“I wanted to play my senior year and just go out with something I love,” Camp said. “Because I do like basketball, and it was definitely fun playing my senior year.”
It was impossible for Camp to predict how his senior season would’ve unfolded on the basketball court. But, if he knew that it would have ended with him going down with an injury on a rival’s court, he still wouldn’t have changed a single moment that led up to it.”
“I wouldn’t have any regrets,” Camp said. “I know God has a plan for everything, so I just believe in that and just keep doing what he asked for me.”
With that mentality, Camp held his head high.
Twelve days after the Battle game, he was still contributing to his team, just in a different way. In Hickman’s Class 6, District 7 quarterfinal game against Blue Springs, Camp, in a brace, sat near the bench at Rock Bridge High School. Vocally, he was electric, just as he is as a player. He energized his teammates, shouting advice while even getting into the heads of opposing players.
Hickman overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat Blue Springs 57-47. Ra’Saun Nichols had the game of his life, and part of his dominant fourth-quarter performance was in dedication to Camp.
“I love any time where I can support another brother,” Camp said. “I love cheering. Even if I’m not in the game, I’m going to be in there somehow, either mentally or physically. So, I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my teammates.”
Camp’s response doesn’t surprise Hickman head football coach Justin Conyers.
“He’s such a high character kid and such a great teammate,” Conyers said. “He loves to compete and what I love about him is he loves competition.”
It’s a mindset that didn’t develop overnight for Camp but instead something that was built brick by brick over a long stretch of time.
Camp always knew that he was going to be a Kewpie. It started at a young age.
While his mother Amanda went to Rock Bridge, his father Terrance went to Hickman, and so did his grandmother Marcella. While growing up, he attended the Kewpie juniors camps, dreaming of playing in purple and gold while his parents appreciated the values that the school had.
“It was always destined for me to come here,” Camp said. “Being a Hickman Kewpie means everything to me. My dad had gone here, and my grandmother had gone here, and it just means the world to me to follow in their steps and be able to be the leader here and showcase what I can do.”
The Kewpie pride Camp carried into his high school career would not only be crucial to him but to the basketball and football programs as well.
Being a part of a culture shift
The beginning of the decade wasn’t easy for Hickman in basketball and football. In 2021, Camp’s freshman football season, the team finished 3-7, its ninth losing season in a row. This was followed by 2-8 in 2022.
Camp became one of the few bright spots for the Kewpies. On the gridiron, there was a lot of pressure for him to help his team succeed. However, the lack of success in the win column leaves plenty of questions for any athlete.
“There were a lot of kids that transferred and that sort of thing,” Amanda Camp said. “And obviously, in the middle of it, you’re like, why am I here? Everybody’s left; why am I staying here? We’re not going to ever win, and it just goes to show that sometimes, you just have to stick it out when it’s hard.”
In his junior football season, Hickman finished 0-10. It included a 63-19 loss to Jefferson City in one of the oldest high school football rivalries West of the Mississippi River.
“That junior year was pretty rough, and a lot of people had given up,” Camp said. “I think that just seeing the bigger picture and sticking on with that route just showed a lot of the character at the end.”
Remaining focused on giving all that he had started to pay off for Camp and the Kewpies.
On the basketball court, Hickman won a total of 15 games from 2018-2020. In Camp’s freshman season, the team went 10-12, followed by a 16-12 season.
“I remember whenever he was playing as a freshman, I was very nervous to kind of play him,” Hickman head basketball coach Cray Logan said. “And then once he got in, from the moment he did, it just kind of clicked.”
For the 2023-24 season, his junior year, and coming off a winless football season, the basketball squad won 19 regular season games. Camp was at the forefront in helping lead the charge. Hickman defeated Rock Bridge in the Class 6, District 7 championship in Blue Springs, the program’s first district title since 2014.
“And not only his personality, not only his style of play, but his leaders and the way that his friends get along with him,” Logan said. “I just love everything about him.”
Months later, things completely changed in football in 2024.
The Kewpies hired former player Justin Conyers, a Kewpie alum who had stints as a head coach at Battle and Hallsville. After starting 0-3, Hickman won four of its last seven games. It came with two moments that Camp will cherish forever.
“I’ll probably say that the Battle football win was probably up there,” Camp said.
Before 2024, Hickman had never beaten Battle in football. On Sep. 20 at home, the Kewpies not only defeated the Spartans 34-20 but ended a 14-game losing streak dating back to 2022. Camp scored in that game and shortly thereafter announced that the team would go on a winning streak.
Two weeks later, and following a win at Smith-Cotton, Hickman defeated Jefferson City for the first time in 12 years, where Camp added two more scores in his 100-plus yard performance.
“And then coming back the next week and getting Jeff City was probably up there as well,” Camp said.
Winning districts in basketball and defeating a pair of close rivals were the best memories he had as a Kewpie, and they all came within an eight-month stretch.
“He cares a lot about Hickman,” Logan said. “Whenever you see guys who care a lot about Hickman and are as athletic and as blessed as he is as far as size, those three things combined to make a really great player, so he’s going to be one of those memorable guys.”
The wins and statistics only scratch the surface
On the football field in 2024, Camp finished with a stat line of 59 receptions for 938 yards and 16 touchdowns. He received first-team all-state, all-district, and all-conference honors. The offensive philosophy instilled by Conyers maximized what Camp could provide.
“The offense he has set up, he said he’s going to get his playmakers the ball,” Camp said. “He just said just to trust him, and I did. He told me he’s going to move me to outside receiver, so it gives better looks for our offense, and it worked out in my favor.”
In four years of basketball, he tallied 1,321 points, 751 rebounds, and 174 assists while recording 56 blocks and 76 steals. He received all-state honors twice and all-conference honors three times while being an all-district selection all four years of high school.
Those statistical numbers speak volumes, but his impact as a Kewpie reaches beyond the surfaces on which he competes. He’s become a big brother to the community. At 6’7 Camp is hard to miss, especially among the younger generation
“We told him, there’s kids out here that are looking up to you in the community, and you have to hold yourself to a certain standard, and he did,” Amanda Camp said. “He just loves the little kids; they’re just so cute watching him, and they call him Bubby, and it’s really awesome to see.”
Win or lose, Bubby Buckets always makes time for the kids who look up to him, whether it’s playing catch or doing the little things that matter. For Conyers, it’s one of the coolest things he’s noticed with Camp.
“He’s a big kid at heart, and he enjoys and takes the time to talk to every one of those little kids. He’s the star of Friday night,” Conyers said. “We come off the football field, and everyone that’s at our game is waiting to shake his hand and just get that moment and that opportunity to talk with Brock Camp, and he takes that time.”
Camp and his senior class have set a new precedent for the underclassmen. The team is growing in numbers and is eager and confident to top the four-win mark from a season ago.
“I think we have set the standard that losing really isn’t an option anymore,” Camp said. “You’ve gotta want it. You’ve got to go in every Friday night and show what we practice on. I think they’re in great hands.”
Looking ahead: Fort Collins
After graduation, Camp is headed 782 miles west of Columbia to Colorado State. 2025 will be the Rams last season in the Mountain West Conference before making the jump to the newly constructed Pacific 12 Conference with Boise State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Utah State. Camp quickly felt like Fort Collins was the perfect fit to continue his academic and athletic career.
“I love the environment that I have seen,” Camp said. “The people there are some of the nicest people you can meet.”
It’s not only the jump to the Pac-12 that excites Camp but also the fact that the program has sent multiple tight ends to the NFL. The most notable example is Trey McBride, the highest-paid tight end in NFL history.
Colorado State utilizes its tight ends in multiple ways, having their hands in the dirt to block as well as lining up outside, which is where Camp excelled with Hickman. Camp understands the task at hand and is eager to prove himself when he’s healed up and ready to.
“The coaching staff is pretty set on what they want and what they expect,” Camp said. “Knowing the standard I’m holding myself to, and they hold me to, I know I’m just ready to come there and work.”
When initially meeting with head coach Mike Norvell and the rest of the Rams coaching staff, it wasn’t all about x’s and o’s.
“I think the most important thing was that the coach just developed a really good relationship with Brock before they even met in person,” Amanda Camp said. “It wasn’t just all about football, it was about life and family…when we went there on our visit, we just had this feeling that that’s where he was supposed to be.”
The relationship with the staff mimics the one he’s developed with his two high school head coaches.
“As soon as me and Coach Conyers got on the same page, I couldn’t ask for a better coach,” Camp said. “He’s helping me on and off the field with stuff that I dealt with, and he’s always just there for me. I know 10 out of 10 times, he’s going to bet on me, and I’m going to bet on him every time.”
The same is true for Logan, who has coached Camp all four years, helping him develop the qualities that impact all aspects of life.
“He’s more worried about the man you are off the court than you are on the court. And that’s just what you need,” Camp said. “It’s just everything I could ask for. I’m blessed to have him for all four years as a play coach.”
As the sun sets on Camp’s time as a Kewpie, he’ll forever be remembered as one who helped turn things around for the purple and gold, helping reignite the pride on both the basketball and football field. He helped Hickman experience things it hadn’t felt for years. More importantly, he’s inspired plenty of future Kewpies in the local community.
“Those kids, they want to be like him,” Conyers said. “I guarantee you, they’re playing backyard football, and one of those kids, multiple of those kids, are probably saying, hey, I’m Brock Camp, and I’m making this play, but that’s who Brock is.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Brock Camp leaves Hickman with a knee injury, football scholarship and no regrets
A lot was at stake on Feb. 21, 2025. Brock Camp and Hickman’s boys basketball team made the short trip to the north side of Columbia to face their in–town rival in Battle. It was not just bragging rights that were on the line, but also conference title and district seeding implications.
In front of a vibrant environment, Hickman fell behind early in the first quarter. It didn’t get better for Camp as in the quarter, he went down holding his knee. Hickman lost to Battle 97-76. The damage sustained to Camp’s leg included a torn ACL and a slight tear in his meniscus — putting an end to his senior year.
It wasn’t the ending that Camp could have ever envisioned. He never suffered an injury of that magnitude. 102 days prior, on Nov. 11, 2024, Camp, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound tight end, committed to Colorado State’s football program shortly after the Kewpies playoff game at Ft. Zumwalt West.
Camp found himself in a unique situation. It’s not unusual for a high school recruit to leave after the winter semester. Colorado State was open to Camp, arriving in Fort Collins, CO, early. However, the Rams like multi-sport athletes and also advised him to stay and play his full senior basketball season.
For Camp, it was an easy decision, and he 100% agreed with it. He loved his teammates and coaches and wanted one more go-around with the Kewpies.
“I wanted to play my senior year and just go out with something I love,” Camp said. “Because I do like basketball, and it was definitely fun playing my senior year.”
It was impossible for Camp to predict how his senior season would’ve unfolded on the basketball court. But, if he knew that it would have ended with him going down with an injury on a rival’s court, he still wouldn’t have changed a single moment that led up to it.”
“I wouldn’t have any regrets,” Camp said. “I know God has a plan for everything, so I just believe in that and just keep doing what he asked for me.”
With that mentality, Camp held his head high.
Twelve days after the Battle game, he was still contributing to his team, just in a different way. In Hickman’s Class 6, District 7 quarterfinal game against Blue Springs, Camp, in a brace, sat near the bench at Rock Bridge High School. Vocally, he was electric, just as he is as a player. He energized his teammates, shouting advice while even getting into the heads of opposing players.
Hickman overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat Blue Springs 57-47. Ra’Saun Nichols had the game of his life, and part of his dominant fourth-quarter performance was in dedication to Camp.
“I love any time where I can support another brother,” Camp said. “I love cheering. Even if I’m not in the game, I’m going to be in there somehow, either mentally or physically. So, I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my teammates.”
Camp’s response doesn’t surprise Hickman head football coach Justin Conyers.
“He’s such a high character kid and such a great teammate,” Conyers said. “He loves to compete and what I love about him is he loves competition.”
It’s a mindset that didn’t develop overnight for Camp but instead something that was built brick by brick over a long stretch of time.
Camp always knew that he was going to be a Kewpie. It started at a young age.
While his mother Amanda went to Rock Bridge, his father Terrance went to Hickman, and so did his grandmother Marcella. While growing up, he attended the Kewpie juniors camps, dreaming of playing in purple and gold while his parents appreciated the values that the school had.
“It was always destined for me to come here,” Camp said. “Being a Hickman Kewpie means everything to me. My dad had gone here, and my grandmother had gone here, and it just means the world to me to follow in their steps and be able to be the leader here and showcase what I can do.”
The Kewpie pride Camp carried into his high school career would not only be crucial to him but to the basketball and football programs as well.
Being a part of a culture shift
The beginning of the decade wasn’t easy for Hickman in basketball and football. In 2021, Camp’s freshman football season, the team finished 3-7, its ninth losing season in a row. This was followed by 2-8 in 2022.
Camp became one of the few bright spots for the Kewpies. On the gridiron, there was a lot of pressure for him to help his team succeed. However, the lack of success in the win column leaves plenty of questions for any athlete.
“There were a lot of kids that transferred and that sort of thing,” Amanda Camp said. “And obviously, in the middle of it, you’re like, why am I here? Everybody’s left; why am I staying here? We’re not going to ever win, and it just goes to show that sometimes, you just have to stick it out when it’s hard.”
In his junior football season, Hickman finished 0-10. It included a 63-19 loss to Jefferson City in one of the oldest high school football rivalries West of the Mississippi River.
“That junior year was pretty rough, and a lot of people had given up,” Camp said. “I think that just seeing the bigger picture and sticking on with that route just showed a lot of the character at the end.”
Remaining focused on giving all that he had started to pay off for Camp and the Kewpies.
On the basketball court, Hickman won a total of 15 games from 2018-2020. In Camp’s freshman season, the team went 10-12, followed by a 16-12 season.
“I remember whenever he was playing as a freshman, I was very nervous to kind of play him,” Hickman head basketball coach Cray Logan said. “And then once he got in, from the moment he did, it just kind of clicked.”
For the 2023-24 season, his junior year, and coming off a winless football season, the basketball squad won 19 regular season games. Camp was at the forefront in helping lead the charge. Hickman defeated Rock Bridge in the Class 6, District 7 championship in Blue Springs, the program’s first district title since 2014.
“And not only his personality, not only his style of play, but his leaders and the way that his friends get along with him,” Logan said. “I just love everything about him.”
Months later, things completely changed in football in 2024.
The Kewpies hired former player Justin Conyers, a Kewpie alum who had stints as a head coach at Battle and Hallsville. After starting 0-3, Hickman won four of its last seven games. It came with two moments that Camp will cherish forever.
“I’ll probably say that the Battle football win was probably up there,” Camp said.
Before 2024, Hickman had never beaten Battle in football. On Sep. 20 at home, the Kewpies not only defeated the Spartans 34-20 but ended a 14-game losing streak dating back to 2022. Camp scored in that game and shortly thereafter announced that the team would go on a winning streak.
Two weeks later, and following a win at Smith-Cotton, Hickman defeated Jefferson City for the first time in 12 years, where Camp added two more scores in his 100-plus yard performance.
“And then coming back the next week and getting Jeff City was probably up there as well,” Camp said.
Winning districts in basketball and defeating a pair of close rivals were the best memories he had as a Kewpie, and they all came within an eight-month stretch.
“He cares a lot about Hickman,” Logan said. “Whenever you see guys who care a lot about Hickman and are as athletic and as blessed as he is as far as size, those three things combined to make a really great player, so he’s going to be one of those memorable guys.”
The wins and statistics only scratch the surface
On the football field in 2024, Camp finished with a stat line of 59 receptions for 938 yards and 16 touchdowns. He received first-team all-state, all-district, and all-conference honors. The offensive philosophy instilled by Conyers maximized what Camp could provide.
“The offense he has set up, he said he’s going to get his playmakers the ball,” Camp said. “He just said just to trust him, and I did. He told me he’s going to move me to outside receiver, so it gives better looks for our offense, and it worked out in my favor.”
In four years of basketball, he tallied 1,321 points, 751 rebounds, and 174 assists while recording 56 blocks and 76 steals. He received all-state honors twice and all-conference honors three times while being an all-district selection all four years of high school.
Those statistical numbers speak volumes, but his impact as a Kewpie reaches beyond the surfaces on which he competes. He’s become a big brother to the community. At 6’7 Camp is hard to miss, especially among the younger generation
“We told him, there’s kids out here that are looking up to you in the community, and you have to hold yourself to a certain standard, and he did,” Amanda Camp said. “He just loves the little kids; they’re just so cute watching him, and they call him Bubby, and it’s really awesome to see.”
Win or lose, Bubby Buckets always makes time for the kids who look up to him, whether it’s playing catch or doing the little things that matter. For Conyers, it’s one of the coolest things he’s noticed with Camp.
“He’s a big kid at heart, and he enjoys and takes the time to talk to every one of those little kids. He’s the star of Friday night,” Conyers said. “We come off the football field, and everyone that’s at our game is waiting to shake his hand and just get that moment and that opportunity to talk with Brock Camp, and he takes that time.”
Camp and his senior class have set a new precedent for the underclassmen. The team is growing in numbers and is eager and confident to top the four-win mark from a season ago.
“I think we have set the standard that losing really isn’t an option anymore,” Camp said. “You’ve gotta want it. You’ve got to go in every Friday night and show what we practice on. I think they’re in great hands.”
Looking ahead: Fort Collins
After graduation, Camp is headed 782 miles west of Columbia to Colorado State. 2025 will be the Rams last season in the Mountain West Conference before making the jump to the newly constructed Pacific 12 Conference with Boise State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State, and Utah State. Camp quickly felt like Fort Collins was the perfect fit to continue his academic and athletic career.
“I love the environment that I have seen,” Camp said. “The people there are some of the nicest people you can meet.”
It’s not only the jump to the Pac-12 that excites Camp but also the fact that the program has sent multiple tight ends to the NFL. The most notable example is Trey McBride, the highest-paid tight end in NFL history.
Colorado State utilizes its tight ends in multiple ways, having their hands in the dirt to block as well as lining up outside, which is where Camp excelled with Hickman. Camp understands the task at hand and is eager to prove himself when he’s healed up and ready to.
“The coaching staff is pretty set on what they want and what they expect,” Camp said. “Knowing the standard I’m holding myself to, and they hold me to, I know I’m just ready to come there and work.”
When initially meeting with head coach Mike Norvell and the rest of the Rams coaching staff, it wasn’t all about x’s and o’s.
“I think the most important thing was that the coach just developed a really good relationship with Brock before they even met in person,” Amanda Camp said. “It wasn’t just all about football, it was about life and family…when we went there on our visit, we just had this feeling that that’s where he was supposed to be.”
The relationship with the staff mimics the one he’s developed with his two high school head coaches.
“As soon as me and Coach Conyers got on the same page, I couldn’t ask for a better coach,” Camp said. “He’s helping me on and off the field with stuff that I dealt with, and he’s always just there for me. I know 10 out of 10 times, he’s going to bet on me, and I’m going to bet on him every time.”
The same is true for Logan, who has coached Camp all four years, helping him develop the qualities that impact all aspects of life.
“He’s more worried about the man you are off the court than you are on the court. And that’s just what you need,” Camp said. “It’s just everything I could ask for. I’m blessed to have him for all four years as a play coach.”
As the sun sets on Camp’s time as a Kewpie, he’ll forever be remembered as one who helped turn things around for the purple and gold, helping reignite the pride on both the basketball and football field. He helped Hickman experience things it hadn’t felt for years. More importantly, he’s inspired plenty of future Kewpies in the local community.
“Those kids, they want to be like him,” Conyers said. “I guarantee you, they’re playing backyard football, and one of those kids, multiple of those kids, are probably saying, hey, I’m Brock Camp, and I’m making this play, but that’s who Brock is.”
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Brock Camp leaves Hickman with a knee injury, football scholarship and no regrets
