After his first season on the Susquehanna University football team in 2019, Jacob Kamp was moving up the Red Hawks’ depth chart. He got some playing time as a freshman and was slated to be one of the team’s vital special teams players and part of the rotation on defense in 2020.

Then the pandemic wiped out the season and put everything on hold. Missing a whole season was devastating to Kamp and many other athletes who had their seasons taken away.

He spent most of the his sophomore fall semester at Susquehanna either in his room taking classes online or going to masked sessions on campus. The 2019 Salisbury High School graduate spent the 2021 spring semester back in the Lehigh Valley taking all classes online.

After missing an entire football season and offseason, the linebacker and special teams player was overjoyed to be back on the field this fall.

“I’ve been playing football since I was four years old,” Kamp said. “I had never missed a season with an injury or for a pandemic. Getting back to camp was a surreal moment. It turned everything back into reality. It was super-refreshing. I felt like myself again.”

Kamp had his best season yet with the River Hawks. He made 10 tackles, recovered three fumbles and had a sack. He played on every special teams unit for his team while also getting some time at strong side outside linebacker, where he is penciled in as the starter next season.

He was Susquehanna’s special teams player of the week in the team’s season finale, a 49-21 Centennial-MAC Bowls Series win over Widener. He had a pair of tackles and the sack in that game. The sack resulted from tackling the punter before he got a kick away when Kamp came through the interior line to make the play.

He’s looking forward to taking over next season at linebacker, the position that’s called ‘star’ in the SU offense. His responsibilities will include coverage, blitzing and run stopping. A little of everything.

As a high school player Kamp played several positions, ending his career as the Falcons’ quarterback for almost two seasons and playing outside linebacker as a senior after being a safety, tight end and wide receiver over his first three years at Salisbury.

He is one of two college athletes in his family as his sister Jordan played goal keeper for the womens soccer team at St. Johns. His younger sister Hannah is the Falcons’ current goalie and likely will be a college athlete if she chooses to.

Kamp first became acquainted with Susquehanna when he was attending Ivy League camps where several Division III schools also had scouts in attendance.

He’s played his first two college seasons behind a two-time All-American in Craig Roumes, who was ninth in the Centennial League in tackles this season. Roumes is one of several fifth-year seniors who opted to return after their regularly-scheduled senior seasons were canceled in 2020.

While Kamp might have started this season if Roumes had moved on, he was glad to have his friend and teammate for another season.

“I knew he was going to be there when I chose to attend Susquehanna,” said Kamp. “He’s been a major driving force in my development as a player.”

After playing in just a couple games during his first season, Kamp got in all 11 contests this year for a Red Hawks team that went 9-2 and finished third in the league.

Off the field, Kamp, who said he was a ‘hard-core student’ in high school, has made dean’s list in all five of his college semesters. He’s also involved with several community service programs, including Clean Sweep, Students of Service and Hileel House, a Jewish fundraising organization, and a is on the Title 9 committee board.

Green Sweep is a group of students who help clean up campus. Students of Service is a football-based club that recently cleaned up a park in Selinsgrove to make the playground usable for residents in the area.

Kamp is majoring in biology with a minor in business administration. He plans to go chiropractic school and one day start his own practice.

He also plans to keep football as part of his life after his playing days end. He returned to the Lehigh Valley to see his Falcons play at Pen Argyl last season and ended up wearing a headset and helping the coaching staff. He plans to help his former high school team in spring ball and eventually get into coaching.

Editor’s Note: In a recent article in the Press, Kamp’s 2021 statistics were inaccurately stated. This article contains his correct stats for his fall season.